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FOR BUSINESSES  About Trail Towns  Invest Along the Trail  Expand Your Business  Business Opportunities FOR TRAIL USERS  Explore Our Towns  Riding the Trail  Visit Laurel Highlands TRAIL TOWNS   WEST NEWTON    CONNELLSVILLE   OHIOPYLE   CONFLUENCE   ROCKWOOD   MEYERSDALE   NEARBY TOWNS Sign up for our email newsletter!	About The Trail Town Program                              download Trail Town Program Brochure These days, biking is more than pedaling, a trail isn’t just a path, and a town isn’t an obstacle, but an opportunity for adventure. Today’s cyclists frequent restaurants, bike shops, grocery stores, pubs, small town shops, laundromats, and delis. They seek a touch of luxury in the form of B&B’s, massage therapy, art galleries, wineries, and visits to sites like the world-famous Frank Lloyd Wright houses. This new reality underlies the Trail Town Program, an economic development initiative along the Great Allegheny Passage. Economic Impact The Great Allegheny Passage is a 132-mile rail-turned-trail that has become a main thoroughfare for cyclists seeking wild rivers, peaks and valleys, and heritage-soaked towns.The Passage generated over $12 million in direct spending in 2007 [Economic Impact Study], up from $7.3 million in 2002. The Passage, which connected to the C&O Canal Towpath to Washington, D.C. in 2006, attracts national and international visitors throughout much of the year.   One of several bike shops that opened in response to the Great Allegheny Passage The connection of the Passage and Towpath links two world-class cities (Pittsburgh and Washington) and is driving a surge in bike traffic. The Trail Town Program is responding with expertise and loans for small businesses, market information for investors who want to come along for the ride, and business district planning for communities enjoying the biking boom. Program History The Allegheny Trail Alliance, with funding from Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and planning and fund raising help from The Progress Fund, developed the Trail Town concept. That marked the pairing of the ATA, a true trailblazer, with The Progress Fund, a top non-profit lender to travel and tourism businesses that now operates the Trail Town Program. The program officially launched in January 2007. Program Vision The Trail Town Program envisions a corridor of revitalized trailside communities along the Great Allegheny Passage that reap the economic benefits of trail-based tourism and recreation as part of a larger, coordinated approach to regional economic development. The long-term economic viability of participating communities is to be achieved through concentrated business development efforts that capitalize on the trail user market. Program Goals 1) Retain existing businesses 2) Expand and increase revenues of existing businesses 3) Recruit sustainable new businesses 4) Adopt the Trail Town vision of revitalized and visitor-friendly trailside communities along the Great Allegheny Passage Participating Towns   Meyersdale Rockwood Confluence Ohiopyle Connellsville West Newton To Learn More Visit our Invest Along the Trail and Expand Your Business pages, or contact us today at: Cathy McCollom, Regional Director (724) 216-9160, x 319 cmccollom@progressfund.org   Amy Camp, Program Coordinator (724) 216-9160, x 318 acamp@progressfund.org These partners financially support the Trail Town Program: Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation Richard King Mellon Foundation Anonymous donor The Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation, Inc. Community Foundation of Fayette County PA Department of Community and Economic Development PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources