GHT named May Business of the Month!

The Vilas County Economic Development Corporation (VCEDC) has named the Great Headwaters Trails Foundation as their Business of the Month for May.

The inscription on the award plaque reads, “In recognition of your tremendous commitment to help ensure a fabulous trail system for individuals choosing Vilas County to live, work, and play. You are indeed helping families create special memories for a lifetime. Congratulations!”

Great Headwaters Trails (GHT) is a local, all-volunteer nonprofit organization whose mission is to help towns in eastern Vilas County build biking and walking trails that have boosted economic development and been a tourism draw for other towns in the county.

We’re currently working with the towns of Conover and Phelps on a trail that will connect those towns and will be completed this summer. It is also working with the River Trail Commission, made up of the City of Eagle River and the towns of Cloverland and St. Germain, to develop a paved trail that would add 10 miles to the 55-mile Heart of Vilas Trail System and provide a biking and walking trail between St Germain and Eagle River.

The paved Heart of Vilas Trail connects towns from Mercer in Iron County to Manitowish Waters, Boulder Junction, Sayner/Star Lake, down to St. Germain. It currently ends at the northwest corner of STH 70 and CTH O on the eastern edge of St. Germain. The proposed River Trail would continue the paved off-road trail, paralleling STH 70 on into Eagle River near the Fairgrounds.

Several GHT leaders gathered at VCEDC offices in Eagle River recently to receive its Business of the Month plaque from VCEDC’s Executive Director Kathy Schmitz. (See picture above.)

 “We are very grateful to receive this honor from the VCEDC,” said GHT President Tim Wright. “It comes at a special time as we all prepare to open up better than ever from the pandemic. It’s a particularly challenging time for GHT as we work hard to complete the bike trail project in Phelps and turn our attention more fully to the River Trail project.”

More information about the Vilas County Economic Development Corporation is available at www.vilascountyedc.org.

Information on how to join the volunteer efforts of GHT, how to donate to support its projects, and about the projects themselves can be found at www.ghtrails.org.