Campus News

UK Community Excited for Legacy Trail Premiere

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 9, 2010) − The University of Kentucky community is proud to be a part of this weekend's premiere of the Legacy Trail. Several areas of the university worked hard to help make the trail happen and will help celebrate its opening at festivities scheduled for Sept. 12.

Several events are scheduled in recognition of the new 12-foot wide, 12-mile long walking and biking trail stretching from the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden on the east end of downtown Lexington at Third Street and Midland Avenue to the Kentucky Horse Park. Over 8 miles of the Legacy Trail are paved with off-street accommodations for every type of non-motorized traveler with a large portion running through UK’s Maine Chance Farm and the Coldstream Research Campus.

The official opening of the Legacy Trail will commence at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12, with activities and events scheduled for the Coldstream Trailhead and the North Lexington Family YMCA Trailhead. The shoelace-cutting ceremony with Mayor Jim Newberry, Gov. Steve Beshear and Rep. Ben Chandler will be at 3 p.m., at the Coldstream Trailhead.

As part of the festivities, the trail will serve as the site of this month's Second Sunday bike ride at Cheapside Park. Pedicab services will be available at Coldstream, while LexTran buses will shuttle visitors between the trailheads.

Other festivities scheduled for the opening of Legacy Trail include "trailgating" (picnics along the trail), music, and Family Fun Fest at the North Lexington Family YMCA Trailhead.

The idea for Legacy Trail, which connects urban and rural Fayette County, grew out of citizen conversations in 2007. It is a linear park that will include displays of public art along with educational, cultural, environmental and historical information. It ultimately will connect with an entire web of regional trailways.

Legacy Trail is a public-private venture utilizing local, state and federal funds. Cost to build the trail was about $10 million. It is a project of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. The Blue Grass Community Foundation has provided community and financial support as well as project oversight.

UK has been a proud supporter of the trail contributing land and guidance for the trail's public art project. To read more about the work UK art students did with the public art project, visit http://uknow.uky.edu/content/trail-service.