Very timely KRT-related news.

[Jeff Yockey]

Hi Everyone,

I'll miss the hour tonight, but I love the longer evenings!  Bring on Day Light Saving Time!  

And what could you do with an extra hour tomorrow?  Join us as we clean up the KRT for another exciting year.  

It will be sunny and 60°F. Sunday afternoon, good early spring weather. Grab your gloves and an old windbreaker and meet at the Urbana Walmart.  

Annual KRT Clean Up 2026

Sun, 3/8/2026 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Kickapoo Rail Trail

Location: Meet at the corner of University Ave. and High Cross Rd, at the north-west corner of the Walmart Parking Lot.

Help us Spring Clean the KRT! Volunteers of all ages and experience levels will help remove trash from along the KRT. Volunteers under 14 must be accompanied by an adult. Drop in anytime between 1 and 2 and stay for as long as you want. Long pants and closed-toed shoes required. Volunteers will be walking off-trail and some areas could be wet. Tools and gloves provided, but bring your own if you have them. No registration required. Check the website or follow on social media for weather cancellations. For more info: Sue at (217) 586-3360 or volu...@ccfpd.org. 

I was out on East Main Street this morning and the KRT Trailhead at Weaver Park is coming along.

The News Gazette ran a front page story today sharing the news that the Champaign County Forest Preserve District was able to secure a lease from Norfolk Southern Rail Road for a short length of unused corridor needed to extend the KRT far enough west to align with Weaver Park, where the trailhead pavilion is going up, and where the Weaver Park spur of the KRT will run down the east side of the park to Washington St and on over to the Dr. Willian Preston Jr Elementary School and Wellness Center. This is good news and will allow the construction to begin this spring. First thing to notice later this month will be the removal of trees growing on the rail bed, where the trail will be built on the south side of East University Ave.

Warm weather and full moons….You know what that means - Full Moon Ice Cream Rides return in 2026!

• Wednesday, April 1 — 10:12 p.m. — Pink Moon
• Friday, May 1 — 1:23 p.m. — Flower Moon
• Sunday, May 31 — 4:45 a.m. — Blue Moon

April is a tricky weather month, and May 1st is essentially April. And we will have to watch the Sidney Dairy Barn's schedule and see when they open.  Often the first Full Moon ride of the year is a shorter one to the St Joseph's Dairy Queen on the KRT!  But no worries, Gene will be all over the planning of these monthly rides real soon.  Stay tuned.

Have you noticed the grass is just a bit greener?

The Trails of the Grand Prairie has 30 miles of rail corridor in Piatt and DeWitt Counties that we will be developing into recreational trails like the KRT in the years ahead. More news on this later this spring and summer, but the recent rain and warm weather has greened up some of the trails we have recently cleared, specifically, a four mile stretch of corridor, 20 feet wide. I walked that stretch yesterday thinking, "Our 20" self-propelled push mower is not going to cut it!"  Well, it could, but that would take 28 miles of walking every time we mowed it!

Wanted:  A used compact tractor and a bush hog type mower.  

I was sharing this need for a bigger mower with a friend of mine this morning and he suggested I just ask around. "Who knows who might have an older parent, an uncle, or a friend that used to have a hobby farm, a house in the county with a large lawn, a small business that once needed a small tractor...and now the tractor is not needed. Maybe they would gift it to you. You are a 501c3 nonprofit."

If that, "who knows who…" might be you, give me a call. That would definitely be the, "Best part of my day!"

The Trails of the Grand Prairie also has a new and immediate need for a small, portable generator. So while I'm asking, if you know of a no-longer needed generator, we are interested. Generators can get cranky since they are seldom started - but running or not - we will take it.  My friend is a pretty gifted small-engine guy who has resurrected more than one engine from the dead. And once he gets it purrrring along again we will give it lots of exercise!

KRT Construction update

2026 is going to be an exciting year for the Kickapoo Rail Trail with trail construction happening in Urbana, between St Joe and Ogden, and from Oakwood west back towards the Champaign/Vermilion County Line.  Follow all the updates below.

Happy Day Light Savings Time everyone!

Jeff

Jeff Yockey

Board Chair
Trails of the Grand Prairie

www.TrailsoftheGrandPrairie.org

in...@TrailsoftheGrandPrairie.org
217 565-1785