Lake Darling to celebrate 75 years, open new trail

BRIGHTON — Lake Darling will hold two celebrations this weekend: the first dedicating a new paved trail to the local attraction’s namesake, and the other noting the state park’s 75th year of existence.

Friends of Lake Darling President Don Kline said the group was excited to mark two major achievements at once, three quarters of a century after Ding Darling himself set the gate, stopping the flow of water through a creek and forming a lake, with a crowd of roughly 1,000 in attendance.

“We thought, 75 years, that’s a milestone, we should celebrate that, and at the same time, we have the Ding Darling Trail that’s finished, so we’d have a ribbon-cutting, and combine the two,” Kline said. “We’re just trying to celebrate the lake, and get people out there.”

At roughly $150,000, Kline said the trail and its signage was covered largely by grants from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation, and other groups like the Frank and Ina Brinton Educational and Charitable Trust. The Friends of Lake Darling picked up about 10-15% of the bill, according to Kline.

The festivities are planned Sept. 20 at the four-seasons lodge, near the lake’s beach. The ribbon cutting is planned at the new interpretive trail head at 1 p.m., and remarks for the 75-year celebration will begin around 3 p.m., according to Kline.

Guests will be welcome to light refreshments, a look at some historical photos and videos of the park, and self-guided tours of the roughly half-mile trail between the lodge and the park’s campground.

Kline said the idea was years in the making, just one of several trails installed or improved by the Friends of Lake Darling nonprofit in recent summers. While the route through the woods was already mowed as a footpath, he said the pavement would make it much easier to travel.

“It is an important part of the trail system,” he said. “This was just an undeveloped trail that a lot of people used when they wanted to go down to the lodge, or swimming, or rent a boat or something. They mowed it, but it was just a path, so this was a big upgrade.”

In addition to connecting the campground with the park’s beach and lodge area, the new amenity is an “interpretive trail,” marked with 10 signs discussing Darling’s work as a conservationist, and its broader implications for Iowans today.

“Ding Darling has been gone since 1962, so a lot of people don’t even know how great of a conservationist he was,” Kline said. “The trail celebrates that, but the signs will talk about something in his life, something he did, and then try to relate it today … we wanted to bring the name of Darling up, as well as show what you can do nowadays to help conservation.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com