Ribbon cut at Ephrata StoryWalk

The Grant County Health District (GCHD), Healthy Community Ephrata Active Living Workgroup, and the City of Ephrata Trails Planning Team hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Ephrata StoryWalk at the start of the Backdoor Trail in Ephrata on Wednesday.

The StoryWalk is along the Backdoor trail in Ephrata. Ten steel frames, built by Preston Clark, Ephrata, are featured along the trail. In the frames are pages from Lois Swenson's "A Car That Runs on Dish Soap." Swenson is a public health nurse for the Grant County Health District and has lived in Grant County for 30 years, according to the press release.

The Backdoor Trail starts at the corner of Division and Industrial Way, near the Port of Ephrata. The books will change seasonally, but the StoryWalk will be available all year round.

According to health district press release, the StoryWalk Project was created by Anne Ferguson in Vermont and was developed in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg Hubbard Library.

It was Wendy Brzezny's idea to bring the StoryWalk to Ephrata. Brzezny, a public health nurse who serves as a consultant on Grant County's Health Commission, approached Clark with the idea. Clark, 17, is an Eagle Scout with Troop 41 in Ephrata, and needed something to do for his Eagle Scout Service Project, he said. So he took on Brzezny's suggestion. "I made the frames and all the stuff. They're all steel," said Clark, who also dug the two-foot holes into which the frames are anchored with cement.

Clark has been with the Boy Scouts for "about six years." He described his ascent to Eagle Scout as "pretty slow," but he "learned more by going slowly."

As Clark approaches his 18th birthday, he knows his days with the Boy Scouts are numbered, he said, but he's not ready to cut ties with the organization just yet. "It's been a great experience. I want to stick around and be an adult leader. I want to be able to help the younger kids," he said.