A St. Joseph-based bank has secured a long-term sponsorship of the Harbor Shores Resort’s nearly 12-miles of scenic trails as the newly named Edgewater Fitness Trail at Harbor Shores.
The unique sponsorship will help maintain and beautify the multi-loop public trail system which was built as part of the Harbor Shores Resort Development, and will also showcase fitness-driven community events that showcase the trail’s design and natural beauty.
As Southwest Michigan’s premier lakefront golf destination, Harbor Shores Resort is best known for its celebrated 6,852-yard, par-71 Jack Nicklaus Signature design golf course, and as the every-other-year host of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.
The new partnership with Edgewater Bank, however, will showcase another of the 550-acre community’s most attractive amenities. Encompassing six different loops located within the Harbor Shores communities, Jean Klock Park, with its dunes and sugar-sand beach, and downtown Benton Harbor, the expansive trail system features breathtaking stretches along the dramatic golf course, Lake Michigan, and both the Paw Paw and St. Joseph Rivers, with the ability to accommodate hiking, biking, walking and even winter activities like cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.
Rick Dyer is President & CEO at Edgewater Bank. He says, “Edgewater Bank has a solid commitment to this community and to health and fitness. We understand the importance of Harbor Shores to this area and are committed to supporting the development in a way that authentically fits our brand and corporate culture.” Dyer, who was inspired by his runs on the trail, including loops along the golf course’s cart paths, adds, “We want to see more people in the community take advantage of this beautiful trail system.”
Edgewater Bank’s long-term sponsorship plan to promote the trail system and encourage physical activity in the surrounding communities of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph includes the creation and management of annual community race/walk events. The goal of those events will be to help locals appreciate the allure and value of the trail system, which includes shared cart-path stretches along Harbor Shores Golf Club, while using the trails to stay physically fit.
Joshua Doxtator is General Manager at the Harbor Shores Golf Club. He calls the partnership, “The perfect project to advance the commitment Harbor Shores has to the community we serve,” and adds, “We have world-class golf and resort amenities but the vision of this development is to serve and enrich the entire community. We understand not everyone plays golf, so bringing more people onto these scenic trails advances our goals of making all the surrounding communities and its residents feel connected to Harbor Shores and the pride it brings to our region.”
Starting next year, in 2020, the Edgewater Fitness Trail at Harbor Shores’ signature autumn event will be the “11K Plus Change Fitness Relay.” The fun run will utilize all 11-plus miles of the trail system, allowing participants of all ages to team up to complete the relay. Proceeds raised from the event will all go back into the maintenance and development of the trails.
An informal “rehearsal” version of the 11K Plus Change Fitness Relay will be held next month on October 19th to kick off the Harbor Shores-Edgewater Bank partnership and to welcome the public to discover, or rediscover, the impressive trail system. As Dyer says, “We look forward to having a few people out for an inaugural, informal taste of what we’ll do on a much larger scale ‘for the masses’ starting in 2020.”
Edgewater Bank will also help create and manage an annual springtime “Corporate Olympics” event geared for two-person teams from regional businesses and utilizing the trails, local roads and the Paw Paw River for a unique triathlon format that will including running, biking and stand-up paddleboarding. All events conducted on the Edgewater Fitness Trail at Harbor Shores will raise funds for the maintenance and further development of the trail system and its fitness components.
Edgewater is an award-winning organization in business and in health and fitness. The Michigan Fitness Foundation and Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports recently named Edgewater Bank its 2019 Governor’s Fitness Award for Healthy Workplace (GFA) in the small- to medium-sized company category.
The Edgewater Fitness Trail at Harbor Shores is a connected 12-mile circuit offering various concrete, asphalt, natural sand and gravel surfaces meant for multi-purpose use. Some stretches of the paved trails share use with the golf cart paths. The trail’s diverse loops include:
- The “Championship Loop” (3.35-mile circuit) runs from North Shore Drive east to Upton Drive and from Graham Avenue north to Klock Road. Within the Loop are the Trailside cottages, the Fairways neighborhood, holes 1-thru-5 at The Golf Club at Harbor Shores, a boat ramp, parking and restroom facilities.
- The “Jean Klock Park Loop” (1.42-mile circuit) runs from M-63 east to Lake Michigan and from Klock Road north to Grand Boulevard. There is a picnic pavilion located within Jean Klock Park, as well as two scenic points.
- The “Harbor’s Edge Loop” (1.47-mile circuit) runs from the Paw Paw River east to Lake Michigan and from the St. Joseph River north to Whitwam Drive. The Harbor’s Edge Loop is the site of the Harbor Village development that includes a marina, boutique hotel, condominiums and cottages and recently completed pedestrian bridge to connect to Main street in Benton Harbor.
- The “River’s Edge Loop” (1.89-mile circuit) runs from North Shore Drive east to M-63 and from the row of Hideaway cottages south to Klock Road.
- The “Arts District Loop” (1.28-mile circuit) in downtown Benton Harbor runs from Paw Paw Avenue east to Water Street and from Main Street north to Graham Avenue.
- The “Commerce Loop” (1.86-mile circuit) runs from Water Street east to Riverview Drive and from Main Street north to Graham Avenue.
Doxtator says, “Edgewater Bank has really stepped up to support healthy lifestyles and fitness in this vibrant, lifestyle-focused community. The events at Edgewater Fitness Trail at Harbor Shores will be fun for the whole community to help us advance our simple goals of getting people outside, moving, and healthy,” and adds, “As this community grows and evolves, we want Harbor Shores to be known for a wide array of water, recreation and world class venues and real estate developments.”
The opening of Harbor Shores Golf Club in 2010 signaled a monumental turning point in Benton Harbor’s history. The Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course is the centerpiece of a $500 million development on the shores of Lake Michigan and the Paw Paw River that was designed to help resurrect an area with more than three million square feet of old buildings and slabs which sat empty and unused for decades. The region’s ensuing transformation into a desirable residential, tourism, recreational, arts and business destination has been made possible by a collective set of projects and numerous community leaders and organizations working seamlessly on a common vision of helping all residents. Today, Harbor Shores is one of the region’s best places to live, work and play. Inasmuch as Harbor Shores Resort sits just 90 minutes east of Chicago, three hours west of Detroit and three hours north of Indianapolis, it has become a convenient weekend getaway destination and an ideal location for team building events, weddings and more.
For more information, you can visit online at this link: http://www.harborshoresresort.com
Edgewater Bancorp, Inc., is the shareholder-owned holding company for Edgewater Bank, which has been serving Southwest Michigan as a local community bank since 1910.
In January of 2014, the Bank converted its charter from a mutual to a shareholder-owned form of ownership in order to facilitate anticipated growth of the organization. Edgewater Bank conducts operations from their main office in St. Joseph, and four additional full-service banking offices located in Royalton Township, Coloma, Bridgman and Buchanan.
Shown in the photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market are Tim Dyer and Maria Kibler from Edgewater Bank at one of the Trailhead signs which will be changed to reflect the partnership with the St. Joseph bank.
