The public got its first taste of the connector trail from Perry to Woodward Friday afternoon, as Dallas County Conservation hosted a ribbon cutting for phase one of the “Let’s Connect” project.

The first mile-and-a-half of the nine-mile trail bridging the Raccoon River Valley Trail in Perry and the High Trestle Trail in Woodward was finished recently, and many from the community showed up on a cold day to celebrate it. The event got started with a performance by the Perry High School Marching Band, which played the music from their competitive program. Conservation Director Mike Wallace then welcomed the attendees to the celebration, mentioning that there’s been around $2.8 million raised so far towards the $5 million project.

Other speakers then got up to talk about their involvement with the connector trail, including Hotel Pattee General Manager Aaron Lenz, Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson, Perry Superintendent Clark Wicks, and Kirk VanKirk, whose family has provided much of the funding to this point. Wallace then brought out the Perry Chamber of Commerce’s giant scissors and cut the ceremonial ribbon. Several attendees then headed out on the trail to give it a test drive, including the project’s youngest donor, Tate Boyd of Urbandale and his friends. There was food provided by Hotel Pattee, which also announced a promotion where anyone who matches Boyd’s donation of $350 will get a night’s stay at the hotel.

Phase two will include paving a similar length of the trail from Woodward heading west, and will begin next summer. Phase three will cover the remaining six miles and could take a few years.