A ribbon cutting for the new Bayless Community Trail was held Oct. 23.
The multipurpose biking, walking and exercise trail is located behind Bayless Elementary School, 4531 Weber Road, and right next to Bayless High School.
“Bayless … we’re a really tight-knit community. I want to say it’s something like 5 square miles – I could be wrong in that – from where our kids draw from, and the school is just that community center point. The more we can add to our community and allow our kids to be active, the better,” Bobby Kelting, Jobs for America’s Graduates specialist at Bayless Junior High and High School said.
Kelting is one of the primary reasons this trail exists. He teaches a program known as JAG, which is essentially a career exploration and placement course with mentorship and counseling components built into the curriculum. He wanted bikes for his students after seeing the benefits biking gave kids at the previous two schools he worked for, so he decided to apply for a grant to cover the costs.
Fortunately, the district received two grants – one from Missouri Healthy Schools and the other from Outrider – and the desired bikes were purchased. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to ride them.
“Obviously, Bayless is a little landlocked at our high school, so we were looking for places to ride,” Kelting said. “I was planning honestly just to, you know, take some grass killer, and then we ride the grass and create a natural trail.”
Instead, the district partnered with various nonprofits and companies from the area to build a trail.
River City Outdoors, “a network of intersectional partners that collectively aim to address the barriers that exist to safe and equitable outdoor access in the St. Louis region” was first made aware of the district’s need. Through its “Thrive Outside Network,” the organization connected Bayless to Trailnet – another local nonprofit that specifically focuses on accessibility to walking and biking connections – and the groups immediately decided to team up.
A third organization, the natural gas public utility company Spire, came into play soon after.
“Our connection was through Corinne Austin, who is the director of development at Trailnet,” George Godat, vice president and general manager of Spire Missouri East said. “I’m an avid cyclist, and I had gotten to know Corinne when she was at Pedal the Cause.”
The two stayed in contact when Austin moved to Trailnet, continuing the conversation about collaboration. When the Bayless Community Trail project emerged, Austin reached out and Godat was more than happy to get involved.
“It was kind of a perfect fit for (Spire),” Godat said.
The three groups then met to discuss the project, and a flourishing partnership emerged. Trailnet applied for and received $10,000 in funding for the materials needed for the project from Spire Giving, Spire coordinated volunteers and materials to execute the project through their Spire Serves program – a program that allows all Spire employees eight hours each year to dedicate to some sort of charitable event – and the Bayless School District oversaw the implementation.
“Really a collaborative effort between Bayless Schools, Trailnet and Spire,” Kelting said.
Since its opening at the beginning of the school year, the trail has mainly been used for biking, though it will soon also be used for physical education classes and cross-country practices as well.