Lake Wobegon Trail Continues To Find Sweet Taste Of Success

UNDATED (WJON News) -- Use of the Lake Wobegon Trail continues to rise as does the turnout for the annual Caramel Apple Ride. This year's ride is Saturday and people can choose to bike from Sauk Centre to Melrose, or Sauk Centre to West Union and Osakis.

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Cliff Borgerding with the Lake Wobegon Trail Association says in addition to the delicious caramel apples the ride to Osakis has a lot to offer:

"And then in Osakis they've got the Taste of Osakis happening this weekend as well so they have live music I think on Friday and Saturday night both and they've got some outdoor booths there and some, I think they have a cornhole tournament going on that weekend as well but lots of good things to do."

photo - Jay Caldwell

The Trail currently hosts three biking events: The Caramel Roll Ride and Lady Slipper rides in June along with the Caramel Apple Ride. Borgerding says all of these events continue to grow:

"We get a lot of people, we are bringing in over 500 people through with our activities we bring another, the St. Cloud River Runners with their Lake Wobegon Trails Marathon bring in 400 runners in and usually there's another 400 people that are joining them when they come in and do that."

Stearns County website

Borgerding says continuing to connect more cities like Waite Park, and hopefully soon St. Cloud, to the trail only adds to its' attractiveness.

He says over 300,000 people use the trail annually and over 50% of people who use the trail on a regular basis come from outside the area, and about 10% from Canada. It is the 13th year for the Caramel Apple Ride and the Caramel Roll Ride celebrated its 25th Anniversary last June.

Chrissy Gaetke, WJON

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