By Kris Leonhardt

MARSHFIELD – A Leadership Marshfield group is working to introduce a free, family-oriented activity to the Marshfield park and trail system.

“It was recommended by Justin Casperson, the director of Parks & Recreation,” said Leadership project group member, Kaelie Gomez. “He said that this was something that he thought was a neat, but they didn’t have the time and resources to take it on, so they recommended that a Leadership group take it on.

“We heard about it; we loved the idea and decided that was our group project.

“We all loved the idea of investing in something that was multi-faceted; something that would invest in families in our community, that would be free for anyone to enjoy and that invested in our children, our future children, and potentially some adults if we end up doing some adult books too.”

The CatTale Walk is a third-mile loop or stretch where you walk the trail reading a page of a book every few feet. Each page of the book will be on a stand, where individuals can stop and read as they walk.

“It’s a third-mile because if there are little ones we want them to be able to walk the full book,” Gomez added.

The concept behind the project is to provide an activity that all families are able to enjoy, while promoting literacy and exercise.

“It promotes reading, it promotes exercise, it promotes the trail systems that we have in Marshfield, and it promotes the resources that we have that any demographic, age (might appreciate) – it’s available to anyone, anyone can enjoy it,” Gomez explained.

The group plans to have the first walk completed on Veterans Parkway, near the library, in 2018.

“We are shooting for one this summer,” Gomez said. “We are hoping that we can get one full trail in by Veterans Parkway finished, then we have two Griese Park loops that we would like to complete, if we get enough sponsorships within the next two years.”

Leadership group members are Gomez, Ashley Lorenzen, Ashley Masephol, Travis Peterson, and Megan Davis-Rosandich.

The CatTale group will be partnering with the ambassadors from the University-Marshfield/Wood County and the Friends of Everett Roehl Marshfield Public Library to maintain the CatTale Walk, while the Park & Recreation Department will assist with installation.

For more information or to donate to the project, visit the CatTale Walk Facebook page.