Photo by Jenny Kirk Gary Thooft cuts through a banner, held by Roger Hook and Kim Braun, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Shady Oaks Nature Prairie Adventure Trails in rural Russell.

RUSSELL — It was a work in progress for quite some time, but the Shady Oaks Native Prairie Adventure Park has gotten approval to be open to the public.

Amidst the many activities that were part of the 130th annual Russell Bandwagon Days on Saturday was a ribbon-cutting ceremony that was meant to mark the opening of the all-terrain vehicle and side by side park in rural Russell. Due to the delay in signage, however, the park is now expected to be open beginning on the Fourth of July weekend.

“It’s been quite an adventure,” Russell native Gary Thooft said. “I started building the trails 25 years ago, for the original owner (Ed Burckhardt). I put in the first bridge and took his friends on trails. Eventually, I bought the place in 2010 and continued on.”

Thooft said he pursued the public aspect after spotting an off-road magazine article that highlighted the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ assistance program for off-highway trails.

Thooft said he sought help from Lyon County Planning and Zoning Administrator John Biren and Brooke Kor, head of programming for Lyon County Parks.

“I found an off-road magazine and a year ago October, we made a phone call,” Thooft said. “Me and John Biren got Steve Prairie (Lyon County Soil and Water Conservation District representative for Area 5) involved, the park board involved and the commissioners involved.”

A lot of other people and organizations also got on board. Thooft said DNR Parks and Trails Division’s Mary Straka and Parks and Trails Area Supervisor Phil Nasby played key roles pushing the proposal forward.

“Mary and Phil are the ones that initiated this project (to make it available to the public),” Thooft said. “She worked at Camden State Park 25 years ago. We had the round table a year ago on January 11 and it’s been endless phone calls and meetings since then.”

Thooft said Straka called and congratulated him on Friday. Several other representatives who were instrumental along the way toward the park’s creation also offered congratulatory wishes — many of them in person at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“My hat’s off to Gary for basically giving this property to the public for us,” Lyon County Commissioner Gary Crowley said. “Now, it’s going to be a state trail. It’s good for the town, it’s good for the county and it just adds one more thing for people to come to Lyon County for.”

Roger Hook and Kim Braun held the banner while Thooft did the honors of cutting it. Afterward, about 60 people joined together for a ride through the trails.

“It went pretty good,” Thooft said.

Thooft was quick to acknowledge that he couldn’t have pulled off the public trails project by himself.

“There were so many people involved in this,” he said. “It’s not just my project.”

Crowley said he was very appreciative of Gary Thooft and his family, though, for their generosity and perseverance.

“He just kept going and plugging away, one step at a time,” Crowley said. “And sometimes, he felt like he was going backwards. But now he has mission accomplished. And you won’t find something like this in our area with the trail here already. It isn’t taking millions of dollars or a half-million to develop the trail. This is just great. And it reaches out to people with four-wheelers and stuff who don’t have places to ride without traveling a long way.”

Galen Boerboom, a member of the Southwest Sportsmen’s Club in Minneota, said he envisions people using the trails while camping out in the area.

“There’s campgrounds right over there by the city park,” Boerboom said on Saturday. “People can spend the weekend here. The club from Renville said it’s the nicest trail in the state. It’s all native prairie out there, so there are lots of wildflowers.”

Several people have been on tours of the trails prior to the opening day.

When I was out here, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was,” Crowley said. “You get over the hill, it’s a different world. I can’t even believe it. It’s pretty unique.”

Thooft said the trails were hidden gems.

“You can’t see the trails from the road here and you can’t see them from the air either because of the oak trees,” he said. “Once you get up over the hill, you’re in a different world, like in the mountains. It’s up and down and it’s got a covered bridge and seven other bridges.”

Thooft said the Bruce Pochardt family of Lynd donated all the poles and bridges.

“I used to ride when Dad (Harry Thooft) was alive,” Thooft said. “My dad loved four-wheeling and mom (LaVonne Thooft) loved four-wheeling. The most we ever had was 45 four-wheelers. Then they went to side by sides, so all the bridges got changed out to wider ones.”

While a rider straddles the seat of an ATV and brakes with his or her hands and feet, steers with handlebars and throttles up using your thumb or twist throttle, a utility vehicle, often called a side by side, allows two people to sit beside each other and handle the steering wheel, pedals and gear shift just like a car or truck.

“It’s a slow ride,” Thooft said. “There’s no water and no mud. It’s a 5-7 mile an hour ride. And there are about 5-½ miles of trails.”

Crowley said another perk is that there is no cost to those who are using the trails.

“It’s free, so that’s another plus,” he said. “Where can we go out and enjoy recreation without paying? It’s because of the ATV trails through the state, plus the generosity of Gary Thooft, that it can be that way.”

Thanks to Tim Swenson of Action Sports and Action Trackchair, visitors will be greeted by a large, colorful Shady Oaks Native Prairie Adventure Park sign. Other signage is needed throughout the trails before it can be officially opened, Thooft said he learned on Sunday.

“We have to finish the signage yet,” he said. “The grant got approved last week by the state. Every year, you apply. They basically rent it from me a year at a time. And it has to be open at least three months to qualify for grant-in-aid.”

The plan is to have the trails open from June to Oct. 1, though it will begin its start date in July this year.

Thooft said Southwest Ridgerunners, which was started as a snowmobile club by Marshall’s Doug Anderson 24 years ago, was partnering in the effort.

“The state puts a little in for maintenance and the club carries the insurance,” Thooft said. “I will still do maintenance on the trails and the club will, too. And if adverse weather comes, we can close it. We can also close it if the trails get tore up — the club can close it and so can the state. It’s possible that it may end up being governed under Camden (State) Park administrative duties. I found that out from (park manager Bill (Dinesen) last week. (This venture) has had a lot of interesting twists.”

While no snowmobiles or motorcycles will be allowed on the trails, Thooft said the partnering with Southwest Ridgerunners allows people who own both snowmobiles and ATVs to be part of the same club.

People close to the project, including Thooft’s sister Carolyn Lindsay, hope that people will enjoy the trails but will also be respectful.

“The park will have another sign with the rules on it,” Lindsay said. “There’s no horsing around or it will get closed down right away.”

After being drafted into the U.S. Army, Thooft said he spent two years in Fairbanks, Alaska.

“Now I have my own Alaska here,” he said. “It’s pretty cool.”