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Barrels of Fun Exploration Center Director Leah Brooks reads a page of \u201cI Ain\u2019t Gonna Paint No More!\u201d by Karen Beaumont with kids from the child care center. The picture book is the first story highlighted on the Ghost Town Trail\u2019s StoryWalk that officials unveiled during a ceremony Monday morning in Ebensburg.
\nMirror photo by Matt Churella\n<\/p>\n
EBENSBURG \u2013 A new chapter of the Ghost Town Trail\u2019s story began Monday as a crowd of about 100 people braved the heat for the unveiling of Ebensburg\u2019s StoryWalk \u2013 an initiative that provides an outdoor reading experience using interchangeable pages of a children\u2019s picture book mounted along the trail.<\/p>\n
The first featured book is Karen Beaumont\u2019s \u201cI Ain\u2019t Gonna Paint No More!,\u201d which was selected to coincide with Color Our World, the Ebensburg Cambria Public Library\u2019s SummerQuest Program, officials said.<\/p>\n
That story consists of 16 posts to read and features activities to do along the way \u2013 like swinging your arms as you walk to the next post. But, in terms of length, each story is going to be different, library director Jenn Link said.<\/p>\n
After the Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library program in Cambria County shut down last month due to a lack of funding, Link said the StoryWalk is \u201cjust one extra resource to get kids out\u201d and develop their literacy skills at a young age.<\/p>\n
Among the attendees for Monday\u2019s ceremony were about 40 children \u2013 ranging in age from infants to preschoolers \u2013 from the Barrels of Fun Exploration Center, a child care center adjacent to the trail that\u2019s located along Reddinger Street.<\/p>\n
Leah Brooks, the center\u2019s director, said the children love reading and being outside. They are on the trail together \u201call of the time,\u201d she said, noting the StoryWalk will enhance their experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just so cool that now there\u2019s an actual StoryWalk,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
The StoryWalk\u2019s featured book will rotate seasonally, with more frequent changes during the warmer months, Link said.<\/p>\n
Even when it\u2019s too cold out to enjoy the trail, all featured books will be available for check out at the library, she said.<\/p>\n
Link said plans are already in place to switch the featured book in September to correspond with the Ebensburg Main Street Partnership\u2019s PotatoFest event.<\/p>\n
Danea Koss, Ebensburg\u2019s community development director, said the StoryWalk is a win-win for families because they can enjoy the trail\u2019s recreational opportunities and promote literacy at the same time.<\/p>\n
Having thousands of people walk on the trail each year is also a win for Ebensburg\u2019s downtown business community since people tend to stay in an Airbnb, eat at restaurants and shop local in downtown shops, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just another way for people to be introduced to Ebensburg and find some other things that they love about it while they\u2019re here,\u201d Koss said.<\/p>\n
Cambria County Commissioner Tom Chernisky said he agrees with Koss, noting the StoryWalk is great for local residents and people visiting the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources\u2019 2020 trail of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is another great asset for outdoor recreation,\u201d Chernisky said in a statement. \u201cThis is another win for our area and it shows public and private partnerships working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Link said she got the idea for the project during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the library\u2019s staff deconstructed a children\u2019s story book and posted the pieces on stakes throughout the library\u2019s lawn. Fundraising efforts to make the vision a reality took nearly two years, she said.<\/p>\n
Link said adding the StoryWalk on the trail would not have been possible without the help and contributions from many community partners: the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies, the Cambria County Conservation and Recreation Authority, Ebensburg Borough officials, the Ebensburg Women\u2019s Club, the Festival of Books of the Alleghenies, the David A. Glosser Foundation, the Long Barn Inc., Barrels of Fun and three anonymous donors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project is near and dear to my heart,\u201d Link said. \u201cTo see it come full-circle, it\u2019s an honor to give to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Caytlin Lusk, the Cambria County Conservation and Recreation Authority\u2019s assistant executive director, Link reached out to see whether the authority would be comfortable with installing the StoryWalk along the Ghost Town Trail.<\/p>\n
\u201cNaturally, we said \u2018yes\u2019 because we love working with the area youth in various capacities,\u201d Lusk said, noting a group of Central Cambria visual arts teacher Brian Dumm\u2019s students recently installed a mural on the trail.<\/p>\n
That mural is visible while walking past the StoryWalk\u2019s posted signs on the trail, which begins between South Center and South Locust streets in Ebensburg.<\/p>\n
The trail is also home to other public murals, student-built structures, historic landmarks and the county\u2019s first two reinforced pedestrian bridges, Lusk said while walking from sign to sign with her daughter, Wren Lusk, 11.<\/p>\n
Lusk was thankful for the ceremony\u2019s turnout, noting it warmed her heart to see so many kids with smiles on their faces running down the trail, excited to see the next page of the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just really shows that something good was definitely done today,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barrels of Fun Exploration Center Director Leah Brooks reads a page of \u201cI Ain\u2019t Gonna Paint No More!\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[223,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-23273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}