Lake County is Taking Strides in Active Living

Physical activity was identified as a priority area in the 2023 Community Health Needs Assessment conducted by Lake County Public Health and Aspirus Lake View, and across Lake County we’ve been taking strides to make movement and outdoor activity a fun part of everyday life.

Last summer a Safe Routes to School plan was developed for William Kelley School in Silver Bay. It outlines strategies to make walking, biking, and rolling to school safer, more accessible, and more enjoyable for students and families. It builds on many of the strengths already present in the community, including Silver Bay’s walkable neighborhood design, active bicycle and pedestrian education programs at the school, and direct connections to the Gitchi-Gami State Trail.

One major focus in the plan is improving safety along Outer Drive, where speeding and gaps in sidewalk connectivity can create barriers for students walking or biking to school and nearby destinations. Thanks to the planning process, these changes will be front-of-mind when the road is redone. The plan also recommends low-cost, community-based programs that encourage active transportation and help build a stronger culture of walking and biking.

Those efforts are already taking shape. An obstructed sidewalk and a pedestrian-activated flashing sign on Outer Drive were fixed. On May 6, Lake County Public Health and Aspirus Lake View hosted a community Bike Rodeo in Silver Bay. Around 40 kids and adults attended the event, where bike mechanics Dan Cruikshank and Summer Goebel from SpokenGear and Asa Jacobs from William Kelley School helped tune up bikes with brake, handlebar, and gear adjustments, tire inflation, and chain cleaning and lubrication. After getting their bikes ready to ride, kids tested their skills on a bike safety course.

Each child who needed one was also fitted with a free bike helmet and had the chance to personalize it with markers and stickers. Participants, parents, and volunteers then shared a community meal together.

Kids left the rodeo with stronger bike skills, a tuned-up bike, and a safe helmet — ready to spend the summer biking safely around town. The event was made possible through volunteer and in-kind support from community partners including SpokenGear, the Lake County Sheriff's Office, the Silver Bay Police Department, Northland Adaptive, the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission, and Zup's Food Market.

William Kelley has held two drop and walk events during the 2025-26 school year, giving all students the chance to walk to school. Students who bus get dropped off a few blocks away and walk to school together.

Another project launched in May 2026 is a pilot Walking School Bus intended to encourage more kids to walk to school together. The Safe Routes to School plan found that 55% of William Kelley students live within one mile of the school. A simple concept, the Walking School Bus is a group of children and adults who walk to school together, making the trip safer, more social, and more fun. By starting the program in neighborhoods where many students live close together, we hope to help build healthy habits and create positive experiences around active transportation.

These efforts are about more than getting from one place to another. Investments in active living benefit the entire community by improving safety, accessibility, recreation opportunities, and connections between neighborhoods, schools, trails, and local businesses.

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