View Full Version : A little OT--Trailhead kiosks
I apologize for the somewhat off-topic nature of this post, but I can't think of a better place to ask it. I attend a small church in the Philadelphia suburbs. There is a lovely creek nearby which is now a nature preserve, and has a trail running alongside which is used frequently by hikers and bikers. This trail runs right along the edge of our property at one point. We'd like to open ourselves up more to the community than we have been in the past, and see if we could get some more people to start coming to services. One of my fellow congregants has had the excellent idea to put up one of those stands/kiosks/whatever you want to call them that you often see at trailheads, next to park offices, etc. Instead of the bulletin board, we'd have a sign welcoming people and letting them know when our services are, and we'd put religious literature in the rack below rather than park brochures. (And for those who saw the thread about leaving religious books in shelters--YES, we'd be careful to make sure they didn't blow all over the place. :rolleyes: )
The question is, where do you get things like that? Are there companies that make them, or are they pretty much DIY projects? If the latter, where could we find info on how to make them? Any advice anyone could give would be greatly appreciated.
Dances with Mice
05-24-2004, 18:33
The question is, where do you get things like that? Are there companies that make them, or are they pretty much DIY projects? If the latter, where could we find info on how to make them? Any advice anyone could give would be greatly appreciated.
Contact a nearby Scout troop, or your local Boy Scout Council, and tell them that you have an Eagle Scout project ready for an applicant.
eyahiker
05-24-2004, 21:08
Suggest that the folks in your congregation get together and decide who has the gift to build and go for it! Surely there are those who can offer funds, time, carpentry work, etc. and make it an outreach project.
Nice idea, and keep the LNT ethics in mind when creating the 'holders' for any literature.
Contact a nearby Scout troop, or your local Boy Scout Council, and tell them that you have an Eagle Scout project ready for an applicant.
Excellent idea!! :clap
Texas Dreamer
05-25-2004, 08:48
www.k-log.com (http://www.k-log.com) 800-872-6611
www.displays2go.com (http://www.displays2go.com) 800-572-2194
www.siegeldisplay.com (http://www.siegeldisplay.com) 800-626-0322
Get on a mailing list from one of these, and you'll also get catalogues from other companies--you know how that goes. These are mostly indoor display, I threw out most of the outdoor catalogues just last week, but I thought these companies might get you in the right direction.
Alligator
05-25-2004, 09:28
Hi Dave,
Some thoughts here. You didn’t mention placement. Of course, the church has every right within zoning laws to place whatever structures it desires on the property. Hopefully the thought wasn’t to place it on the back side up against the trail. A good idea might be to place the sign/kiosk in the front, which would lessen the impact. Advertise free parking near the sign/kiosk, or perhaps a small donation to discourage abuse, your call. Put a garbage can near the sign/kiosk to encourage folks to not leave trash on the trail and to practice leave no trace ethics along with your religious pamphlets. (A spring loaded clear plastic top on each slot might keep them from blowing in the wind.) Produce pamphlets that highlight important passages in your religious text relating to nature. Including LNT pamphlets would also be educational. Sponsor religious walks and trail clean up. Have a small rustic trail leading to the church from the nature walk, with just a small sign indicating that the trail leads to your church.
What would be even cooler than just the boy scouts would be to ask the girl scouts and boy scouts to do the project jointly. Alternatively, perhaps working with the shop class of an urban school inside Philadelphia, where the students would get to come out and walk the trail after completing the project. It would be a lot more fun than just building a napkin holder.
Best of luck.
Thanks, Texas Dreamer, for the links: I will follow up on them. Thanks also to those who suggested the Scouts. I will check to see if there is a troop in the town our church is in. Otherwise, inviting people from Philly would also be a good idea.
Alligator: Our property was once the estate of the gentleman who founded our congregation. The quite large house he and his family lived in still exists and we use it for guests and small meetings. The trail was previously a road which was closed when the nature preserve was formed and has been allowed to decay gracefully. It literally runs about 10 feet max from the official "front" side of the house (even though that's not the side that people normally enter/exit from nowadays). There is a driveway that runs along the perpendicular side of the house, connecting the trail, the commonly used entrance to the house, and the church (which is farther away from the trail, but still quite visible.) I tried to do a drawing, but I can't get it to come out. Suffice it to say that we in essence have a "campus", consisting of an open, sloping field where our major buildings are located, all within 3-400 feet of the trail; as you walk along the trail, we dominate the view on the side opposite the creek. (Hiking along this trail is how I discovered the church in the first place.:clap ) We want to put the stand right where the driveway meets the trail, on our side of the property line, but still only a couple of steps away from the trail. It would fit in quite well with the existing view. Your suggestions about the trash can and the spring-loaded lid are excellent ones (I had forgotten about the possibility of spring-loading and was just thinking about regular lids.) Unfortunately, there isn't any room for parking here; most people access the trail either at one of the two ends or at the preserve's main visitor center, which is about half a mile south from our property.
We actually already do a walk each year where people meet at the other church in town (similar beliefs, but MUCH larger), walk along the creek to our church, then have breakfast. The town is dominated by members of one church or the other, and has long been interested in preserving the natural aspects of the community; one of our congregants was instrumental in founding the preserve in the first place, and there has always been an effort to keep as much open space as possible. So I think it would be quite easy to organize efforts to maintain and clean the trail.
Sorry to go on so long, all; we're doing a lot of exciting things at my church right now, and I enjoy being a part of it all. Anyway, thanks again for all the advice and suggestions.