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The opening is at 11 a.m. today at the Queen Street entrance and the Harrow Rotary is inviting people to join them in a walk beginning at the Ferriss Road entrance on Saturday around 3 p.m. Club members are walking from the Essex Golf and Country Club in LaSalle to the Ferriss Road gate to raise money for the trail.
The Essex Region Conservation Authority, which owns the trail, plans to develop it from Harrow to Ruthven this year and from Oldcastle to Harrow in 1999. The trail could some day become the southernmost leg of the Trans Canada Trail being developed across Canada.
Lace up those sneakers. The first two-km section of the Chrysler Canada Greenway officially opens today.
The section from Queen Street in Harrow east to the Ferriss Side Road is the first completed leg of a 44-km railway corridor that stretches from Oldcastle to Ruthven.
Jill Marontate, president of the Harrow Rotary Club, said the town is proud to be first and hopes to attract visitors to its downtown. The Harrow Rotary promised to raise $40,000 to cover the development of the trail and the parking lot off Queen Street.
"I go down quite a bit. The usage is increasing. Once we have it open, it will get used more by bicycles and walkers."
Marontate said she hopes other service clubs and towns will work to open more of the trail.
The Essex Region Conservation Authority, which owns the trail, plans to develop it from Harrow to Ruthven this year and from Oldcastle to Harrow in 1999. The trail could some day become the southernmost leg of the Trans Canada Trail being developed across Canada.
A study last year by a tourism consultant said the Chrysler Canada Greenway, when completed, could attract 21,700 visitors in its first year of operation, including out-of-town tourists, and generate $992,920 in the surrounding communities.
"The little shops and the bike rental places do crop up," said Richard Wyma, the authority's land management supervisor.
The trail could become as popular as the city's Ganatchio Trail but Wyma said the two are different. Unlike the paved Ganatchio Trail, the greenway has a crushed stone surface.
Creeks
The greenway winds over creeks and through farm fields, woodlots and towns. Much of the greenway is lined with trees and is good for wildlife because it links 25 separate woodlots, Wyma said.
Chrysler Canada donated $250,000 to help cover the $475,000 cost of buying the former rail corridor and fundraising is under way to develop the trail.
The opening is at 11 a.m. today at the Queen Street entrance and the Harrow Rotary is inviting people to join them in a walk beginning at the Ferriss Road entrance on Saturday around 3 p.m. Club members are walking from the Essex Golf and Country Club in LaSalle to the Ferriss Road gate to raise money for the trail.
Members will also soon sell bricks for $35 each that will be placed at the entrance.
Candice Harder, 7, left, and Christine Jenner, 8, take a stroll along the first section to open of the Chrysler Canada Greenway. ;
Copyright Southam Publications Inc. May 29, 1998