NORWAY, Maine — With fresh snow on the ground, activities requiring natural snow are back in rotation. The fresh snow coincided with the opening of the farm-to-town trails at Roberts Farm Preserve in Norway.
Robert Van Nest, director at the Western Foothills Land Trust, explained the vision of broadening the trail system.
"This is modeled on a European way of doing recreation," Van Nest said. "Injecting recreational capacities into a village and have it access the Main Street of town to stimulate business and to access a recreational trail at the same time."
It's a project that's been 10 years in the making for the Western Foothills Land Trust, including the final acquisition of 6.5 acres over this past summer, culminating with enough fresh snow to open all trails.
“From the initial concept, which I believe started with Bob Van Nest's complicated brain, to the actual acquisition of lands, to the building of trail, the many many different lifts—so many hours of volunteer time have gone into this,” Lee Dassler, executive director of the Western Foothills Land Trust, explained.
The two new trails parallel each other. Janet’s Trail, named after a dear friend of members of the Trust, is the snowshoeing and dog walking trail. The Lunch Trail, named after a popular brew from Maine Beer Company, is for cross-country skiing. Both trails stem about two miles off the current loops of Roberts Farm Preserve bringing you right onto Water Street, mere steps from Norway’s downtown area.
“To be able to be right downtown with all of our wonderful entrepreneurs, the great restaurants we have here, the businesses and services, and be able to go outside and get right to, what is the core in my heart, which is Roberts farm,” Dassler explained.
"We have the ski trails and the hiking trails, great views, this is a wonderful thing for the community, I’m so excited.”
Roberts Farm Preserve is open daily, with snowshoe and cross-country ski rentals at no charge while the warming hut is open.