EXPLORING ENID’S TRAILS:  My hometown is in the middle of a revival.  I don’t mean an old fashioned tent revival with tambourines and things but a renaissance.  We are building a multi-million dollar convention center with the hopes that it will bring in conventions and entertainment like a large city.  We are “de-malling” our mall and I am unsure what that even means except that it will chop the existing mall into pieces and make an open-air market.  Every day the newspaper is filled with stories about building a new hotel by the convention center, and  a downtown tower might be converted to a hotel.  I don’t know if that will happen but that’s the word on the street.

The one thing that has been done lately is to improve Enid’s parks.  I worked for the local Parks Department years ago when my children were small by managing the local Olympic sized pool.  I had fourteen lifeguards and a limit of 400 bathers a day during the summer months and it was a monumental job sometimes.  But, I’m rambling.  I was discussing the parks.  In addition to the parks Enid is creating a series of fitness trails for running, walking and/or biking.  They are increasing steadily and I recently took my little city dog for a walk on one of the trails.  She loved it.  I know this because she almost pulled my arm off, even more than she normally does in our own neighborhood.  The area we walked in follows the banks of the drainage ditch that flows through town; our version of the Mississippi River.  Yards back up to this bank and you are ultimately walking down a concrete alleyway meeting people all along the way.  Vegetable gardens are also popping up outside of fences along these very wide banks too and give the area a very urban yet rural feel.

There are a few problems though – the biggest of which is PEOPLE WHO DON’T CLEAN UP AFTER THEIR ANIMALS (sorry, I’ll calm down now).  I think you get the visual so enough said.  My dog also got sandburs because she couldn’t stay on the concrete, but maybe a little weed killer would take care of that problem.  Once I got the stickers out of her dainty paws however, we still had a good walk.

I am pleased to see that Enid is trying to revive itself.  We are not a large town, nor do we want to be, but we still want to be vibrant and strive for improvement.  I hope it is a renaissance of spirit, not just construction for the town of Enid.