Johnson Park in Walker is unveiling an eight-mile mountain bike trail network this weekend, part of a broader round of park upgrades that also brought a bigger parking lot, a new playground, covered gathering spaces and a four-season family restroom to the property. The Kent County Parks Department and the West Michigan Mountain Biking Alliance are marking the occasion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday afternoon, followed by a free community Jamboree on Saturday.
According to MLive.com, the Kent County Parks Department is celebrating the improvements alongside the West Michigan Mountain Biking Alliance, with the ribbon-cutting set for Friday afternoon at the park, located at 4048 Butterworth St. SW. The Kent County Parks Department and WMMBA will also host the ceremony at 1 p.m. that day, according to WOOD Radio. Johnson Park is a Kent County park.
The Saturday Jamboree begins at 10 a.m. and includes a free community mountain biking ride, opportunities to try out bikes, guided trail tours and lunch, per the same MLive.com report. WOOD Radio similarly describes the Saturday event as including guided trail tours, bike test rides and lunch for anyone who wants to check out the new network firsthand.
An Eight-Mile Network Built for Every Skill Level
The new trail system offers beginner-friendly routes, progressive trails and fast-flowing descents for more experienced riders, according to MLive.com, with adaptive design elements built in for riders with different mobility needs. Trailforks currently lists no trails for Johnson Park, according to Trailforks. The listing also reports no adaptive-bike trails.
Earlier planning materials from the project described an adaptive inner loop, an outer blue loop, and two to three progressive lines, according to Singletracks, which also reported that the project was designed with adaptive riders in mind from the outset.
Dan Frayer, president of the West Michigan Mountain Biking Alliance, said Johnson Park adds opportunities for riders of all abilities to connect with mountain biking, according to MLive.com. Spectrum Trail Design provided expertise as a project partner, and WMMBA contributed in-kind trail work, the outlet reported.
From Six Miles to Eight — and a Late Fundraising Push
The project's scope grew over time. Earlier materials from WMMBA described the trail as roughly six miles in total; the plan later grew to eight miles. Plans called for two, possibly three, one-way flow lines.
More than 100 individual donors helped raise an additional $100,000 to fund the two extra miles of singletrack, according to the Kent County Parks Foundation. The foundation has since launched a third phase of its campaign aimed at building a long-term maintenance endowment, with funds intended to cover tools, signage upgrades, trail maintenance, tread repairs and upkeep of the trail's progressive features, per the same source. The foundation estimates Johnson Park's annual maintenance expenses at $3,000 to $5,000 a year, citing International Mountain Bicycling Association guidance that routine annual trail maintenance typically runs $4,000 to $6,000 per mile.
A Key Link in the Grand River Greenway
Ben Swayze, director of the Kent County Parks Department, described Johnson Park as an important piece in the Grand River Greenway puzzle, according to MLive.com. The park serves as the westernmost trailhead for Kent County's Grand River Greenway, a network that links West Michigan communities to the Grand River from Lowell to the Lakeshore, the outlet reported.
The roughly $2.7 million investment in Johnson Park was supported by federal funding, state grants, regional partnerships and community fundraising, according to MLive.com. That funding included $1.6 million in federal money approved by the Kent County Board of Commissioners, a $400,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund, and $540,000 in federal funding from the DNR administered through Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. The Kent County Parks Foundation and WMMBA together raised an additional $160,000 toward the project, per the same report.
WMMBA is a volunteer-run organization that maintains and improves more than 100 miles of natural-surface trail across nine partner municipalities. For now, the focus is on this weekend: a ribbon-cutting Friday afternoon followed by a free, family-friendly Jamboree Saturday morning meant to get more West Michigan riders out on the new trails.
