Happy trails! The Bright Idea Fund within the Community Foundation recently awarded a grant to the City of Menasha Parks and Recreation to extend the Paper Trail in Menasha up to Nature’s Way, closing an unsafe gap in the trail and bringing two sides of the community together while encouraging outdoor recreation.

By Brian Tungate, City of Menasha, Director of Parks and Recreation

With the snip of a giant pair of scissors, the Province Terrace Trail is officially open! The trail extension connects the City of Menasha‘s east and west sides and allows safe access in a high traffic area to the rest of the Fox Cities Paper Trail.

The trail extension closes an unsafe gap in the Paper Trail and provides access to city amenities with a new trail segment heading west from the corner of U.S. highways 10 and 114 in Menasha up to Nature’s Way and on to the Fox Cities Friendship-Trestle Trail and the Loop the Little Lake Trail.

The new crossing and trail provide a crucial link between the west and east halves of Menasha, at the intersection of two very busy highways that, until now, were extremely difficult to navigate safely by foot or bike due to the heavy traffic.

Residents east of Oneida Street can now safely access city amenities such as the Heckrodt Wetland Reserve, Jefferson Park and downtown Menasha. Trail users heading north will connect to Midway Road and be able to access south Appleton.

The Paper Trail is about a 50-mile circle route through 11 Fox Cities communities and 20 area parks, creating what’s called an “emerald necklace” of our special green spaces. The trail circles the Fox Cities and provides communities with a frame in which to construct and link trails. It also provides a unique recreational opportunity for residents and visitors alike to enjoy.

The Paper Trail has been an ongoing project of Fox Cities Greenways, and links Grand Chute, Appleton, Little Chute, Kaukauna, Kimberly, Buchanan, Harrison, Menasha, Neenah, Town of Neenah and Fox Crossing. It also runs alongside Fox Cities Stadium and passes through, or by, 21 parks.

The 2,600-foot Province Terrace Trail consists of a quarter-mile of beautiful, lighted boardwalk that meanders through the Menasha Conservancy. The trail is wide enough to accommodate both bikes and pedestrians and will be open year around.

A portion of this trail was funded by a $9,949 grant from the Bright Idea Fund within the Community Foundation of the Fox Valley Region.

To view a map of the new trail and other trails in the Fox Cities go to http://gis.appleton.org/trails/index.html.

You can make the Bright Ideas burn even brighter by adding your support.

Check out our current Bright Idea Fund results from 2018 – 2019!
See how our Bright Idea Fund impacted our community last year.