It’s a clean-up that shouldn’t take long, but it’s also a clean-up that carries with it great importance for many in the Panora community.

Starting at 5pm tomorrow evening, members of the Panora Chamber of Commerce and PRIDE–the Panora Area Development Group–will convene at PJ’s Drive-In to embark on a clean-up of the Raccoon River Valley Trail.

PRIDE President Dave Grove explains why he thinks this simple endeavor is so important.

“As much use as we’re expecting to see on the trail this year, this certainly shines a bright light on our community and we want to make sure we’re putting our best foot forward.  We’re hopeful that there’s not a whole lot of clean-up because people seem to take pretty good care of the trail, but with enough hands on deck, we can get it looking good for a lot of the activities this summer.”

With how much bike traffic the Raccoon River Valley Trail now gets, Grove says he sees tomorrow’s clean-up as more than just a beautification effort… it’s also a business opportunity.

“As many people as we have that use the trail and we expect to use the trail in the years to come, it is a huge asset for our community.  The more we can, like I said earlier, put our best foot forward… if people coming through to see the town and see what we’re about, we’re confident that folks may want to relocate out here or at least come in to town and maybe spend some money.”

Grove says tomorrow’s clean-up effort will span about a mile and a half to two mile stretch of the bike trail. He encourages any Panora residents, whether you’re in Chamber or PRIDE or neither, to come out and assist with the trail cleaning.