Hundreds gathered this past weekend in Boonville, Missouri, for the Spirits of the Katy Bridge Walk – the annual wine walk organized by the Katy Bridge Coalition to raise money to rehabilitate the city’s Katy Bridge.
The end goal? Walkers and cyclists on the Katy Trail can cross the Missouri River by going over the historic bridge, whose lift span has been in the “up” position since 1986.
Visitors to this year’s wine walk included Martha Hagan of Mexico, Missouri, who came to the event with her Delta Zeta sorority alumnae group.
“We decided to meet down here and it sounded like a fun thing to do and try some different wines and check out the bridge and support that,” she said.Vendors included Papa’s Krunchy Kettle Corn, owned by Boonville residents Lance and Mary Franklin.
“We enjoy coming down here, popping the corn, meeting the people or talking to different individuals,” said Lance Franklin. “And it's just a fun time. [The bridge has] been a staple in Boonville for many, many, many years. Of course, they need funds. They need money to do that. And if we could be any part of that and helping them out, we're all for it.”
Sarah Gallagher is the president of the Katy Bridge Coalition, the group that is raising funds to repair the bridge.
She said the purpose of this year’s wine walk – the first since COVID – is to “build back the awareness that we’re still out here and we’re still working on it.” The Boonville side of the bridge opened to the public in 2016, and the coalition’s goal is to raise $10 million to rehabilitate the lift span and the Howard County side of the bridge.
“We have many, many people that come from all over the world to ride the Katy Trail,” Gallagher said. She wants trail users to be able to “cross the river on the actual Katy Trail, which is the old MKT bridge.”
Until the rail bridge is rehabilitated, trail users must cross the Missouri River on the U.S. Route 40 bridge and rejoin the trail at the train depot – site of last weekend’s wine walk.
“If you had the Eiffel Tower in your community, wouldn't you want to make sure people got to use it and enjoy it?” asks Gallagher. “So, for central Missouri, or actually for all of Missouri, this is an iconic structure. This is something that no one else has in the world.”
Retired attorney Ken Askren of Boonville, who serves as coalition treasurer, said he was thankful for the weather on Saturday.
“We were very happy for the folks who have turned out to [show] their support for the Katy Bridge project,” Askren said. “And we hope that among this group, somewhere, is a hidden millionaire that may just be the one that writes the check for the next phase.”
Popcorn vendor Franklin extended an open invitation to the general public to visit Boonville.
“It's a historic town, it's a river town,” he said. “Come down and enjoy it. Look at all the old buildings that we have here. We've got a lot of stuff in Boonville that people may not know about it because they're from the bigger cities. Come down to the smaller communities and get to know everybody. We love everybody here. I mean, we do, we really do.”
If you'd like to learn more about the efforts to rehabilitate the historic Katy Bridge, visit www.savethekatybridge.org.
