Trail Town Effort: Weekend On The Water In Estill Co.

ESTILL COUNTY, Ky (LEX 18) A community in Estill County is looking to put themselves on the tourism map by trying to become a certified Trail Town. Part of their efforts includes an outdoor weekend called ‘A Weekend on the Water’ at their very own Kentucky River Park on the Kentucky River."Great land out here and we’re trying to get people back active. You know we’re wanting to do ball fields. You know… kind of bring this thing back it’s kind of been let go the last few years. Not pointing fingers or nothin’ but it’s just been economic hard times and now we’ve got groups and volunteers back interested in it," said Estill Co. Judge-Executive Kevin Williams. After three years of preparation, the Estill Action Group can’t wait to show off one of Irvine’s gems this weekend."It is our trial run for the Kentucky Trail Town certification process. It’s a two-day event. On Saturday, it is going to be it’s Float Fest which is an inner tube float around a U-bend in the river," said Estill Action Group President Jessica Aldridge. In addition to water competitions on Saturday and Sunday, there will be vendors, a food truck, and camping available at the Kentucky River Park in Irvine all weekend.They hope that this event will push the state to put the community on the map by making them Trail Town certified to boost tourism and economic growth. "I know a lot of small towns believe they don’t have anything that tourists want to see and that’s not true. We already have tourists that come in this area. We’re close to Red River Gorge, we have a lot of agate and mushroom hunting. We have the river we have the second most mileage of the Kentucky River out of all the counties in Kentucky," said Aldridge. With 72 acres of land, they not only hope that it becomes a tourist attraction, but also a place their community wants to gather."I mean these kids, we just, you know, we’ve got all this it’s sitting right here. It’s ten minutes from town, and a lot of these kids haven’t even seen this yet except the ones that are maybe gonna play flag football and soccer and you know we’ve got access to the river. It just means a lot because it’s here and we just gotta do something with it," said Williams.The weekend on the water is free to visitors all weekend. Click here to learn more.