A highlight of the 2018 Raccoon River Valley Trail Association banquet came when Tom Maxwell, left, owner of the Hotel Pattee in Perry, presented a $10,000 donation to Dallas County Conservation Board Director Mike Wallace. The 2019 event is Saturday night at the West Des Moines Marriott Hotel. Photo courtesy RRVTA
The Let’s Connect Big Bike picked up speed Saturday with a $10,000 donation from Tom and Vickie Maxwell, now owners of the Hotel Pattee.
Tom Maxwell, new owner of the Hotel Pattee in Perry, stunned the crowd at the 11th annual Raccoon River Valley Trail Association banquet Saturday night when he announced he and his wife, Vickie Maxwell, were donating $10,000 to the Let’s Connect link trail project.
Maxwell presented a ceremonial check to a grateful Mike Wallace, director of the Dallas County Conservation Board and a member of the board of the RRVT Association.
The Let’s Connect campaign is raising funds for the 9-mile connector trail that will link the Raccoon River Valley Trail in Perry to the High Trestle Trail in Woodward. Roughly half the $5 million project cost has been raised, and phase-one construction will begin in the spring.
More than 165 people attended the annual fundraising banquet, which was held at the West Des Moines Marriott Hotel.
Among the key organizers of the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association banquets over the years have been, from left, Cindy Jensen of West Des Moines and Lake Panorama, Sandy Lowe of Panora and Phyllis Drake of Jefferson. They were together at the 2014 banquet, shown here, and were expected at the 11th annual banquet Saturday night at the West Des Moines Marriott Hotel. Photo courtesy RRTA
