Edgewater Fitness Trail at Harbor Shores

Harbor Shores Resort Partners with Edgewater Bank to Promote, Maintain Scenic Trail System as Health Amenity

Edgewater Fitness Trail at Harbor Shores to Host 11K Plus Change Fitness Relay in 2020

By Brian Weis

Harbor Shores Resort is proud to announce a partnership with St. Joseph, Michigan-based Edgewater Bank that secures a long-term sponsorship of Harbor Shore's scenic nearly-12-mile Edgewater Fitness Trail at Harbor Shores. The sponsorship will help maintain and beautify the multi-loop public trail system built as part of the Harbor Shores Resort Development and present fitness-driven community events that showcase the trail's design and natural beauty.

As Southwest Michigan's premier lakefront golf destination, Harbor Shores Resort is best known for its celebrated 6,852-yard, par-71 Jack Nicklaus Signature design and as the every-other-year host of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. This partnership with Edgewater Bank, however, will showcase another of the 550-acre community's most attractive amenities. Encompassing six different loops located within the Harbor Shores communities, Jean Klock Park (with its dunes and sugar-sand beach) and downtown Benton Harbor, the expansive trail system features breathtaking stretches along the dramatic golf course, Lake Michigan, the Paw Paw River and the St. Joseph River with the ability to accommodate hiking, biking, walking as well as winter activities like cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.

"Edgewater Bank has a solid commitment to this community and to health and fitness. We understand the importance of Harbor Shores to this area and are committed to supporting the development in a way that authentically fits our brand and corporate culture," Richard Dyer, Edgewater Bank's president and CEO, who was inspired by his runs on the trail, including loops along the golf course's cart paths. "We want to see more people in the community take advantage of this beautiful trail system."

Edgewater Bank's long-term sponsorship plan to promote the trail system and encourage physical activity in the surrounding communities of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph includes the creation and management of annual community race/walks. The goal of the events will be to help locals appreciate the allure and value of the trail system (which includes shared cart-path stretches along Harbor Shores Golf Club) while using the trails to stay physically fit.

"This is the perfect project to advance the commitment Harbor Shores has to the community we serve," says Harbor Shores Golf Club general manager Joshua Doxtator. "We have world-class golf and resort amenities but the vision of this development is to serve and enrich the entire community. We understand not everyone plays golf, so bringing more people onto these scenic trails advances our goals of making all the surrounding communities and its residents feel connected to Harbor Shores and the pride it brings to our region."
Starting in 2020, the Edgewater Fitness Trail at Harbor Shores' signature autumn event will be the "11K Plus Change Fitness Relay." The fun will utilize all 11-plus miles of the trail system, allowing participants of all ages to team up to complete the relay. Proceeds raised from the event will all go back into the maintenance and development of the trails.

An informal "rehearsal" version of the 11K Plus Change Fitness Relay will be held this Oct. 19 to kick off the Harbor Shores-Edgewater Bank partnership and to welcome the public to discover, or rediscover, the impressive trail system. "We look forward to having a few people out for an inaugural, informal taste of what we'll do on a much larger scale "for the masses" starting in 2020," says Dyer.

Edgewater Bank will also help create and manage an annual springtime "Corporate Olympics" event geared for two-person teams from regional businesses and utilizing the trails, local roads and the Paw Paw River for a unique triathlon format that will including running, biking and stand-up paddleboarding. All events conducted on the Edgewater Fitness Trail at Harbor Shores will raise funds for the maintenance and further development of the trail system and its fitness components.

Edgewater is an award-winning organization in business and in health and fitness. The Michigan Fitness Foundation and Governor's Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports recently named Edgewater Bank its 2019 Governor's Fitness Award for Healthy Workplace (GFA) in the small- to medium-sized company category.

The Edgewater Fitness Trail at Harbor Shores is a connected 12-mile circuit offering various concrete, asphalt, natural sand and gravel surfaces meant for multi-purpose use. Some stretches of the paved trails share use with the golf cart paths. The trail's diverse loops include:

* The "Championship Loop" (3.35-mile circuit) runs from North Shore Drive east to Upton Drive and from Graham Avenue north to Klock Road. Within the Loop are the Trailside cottages, the Fairways neighborhood, holes 1-5 at The Golf Club at Harbor Shores, a boat ramp, parking and restroom facilities.

* The "Jean Klock Park Loop" (1.42-mile circuit) runs from M-63 east to Lake Michigan and from Klock Road north to Grand Boulevard. There is a picnic pavilion located within Jean Klock Park, as well as two scenic points.

* The "Harbor's Edge Loop" (1.47-mile circuit) runs from the Paw Paw River east to Lake Michigan and from the St. Joseph River north to Whitwam Drive. The Harbor's Edge Loop is the site of the Harbor Village development that includes a marina, boutique hotel, condominiums and cottages and recently completed pedestrian bridge to connect to Main street in Benton Harbor.

* The "River's Edge Loop" (1.89-mile circuit) runs from North Shore Drive east to M-63 and from the row of Hideaway cottages south to Klock Road.

* The "Arts District Loop" (1.28-mile circuit) in downtown Benton Harbor runs from Paw Paw Avenue east to Water Street and from Main Street North Graham Avenue.

* The "Commerce Loop" (1.86-mile circuit) runs from Water Street east to Riverview Drive and from Main Street north Graham Avenue.

The opening of Harbor Shores Golf Club in 2010 signaled a monumental turning point in Benton Harbor's history. The Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course is the centerpiece of a $500 million development on the shores of Lake Michigan and the Paw Paw River that was designed to help resurrect an area with more than three million sq. ft. of old buildings and slabs which sat empty and unused for decades. The region's ensuing transformation into a desirable residential, tourism, recreational, arts and business destination has been made possible by a collective set of projects and numerous community leaders and organizations working seamlessly on a common vision of helping all residents. Today, Harbor Shores is one of the region's best places to live, work and play. Harbor Shores Resort sits just 90 minutes east of Chicago, three hours west of Detroit and three hours north of Indianapolis, making it a convenient weekend getaway destination and an ideal location for team building events, weddings and more.

"Edgewater Bank has really stepped up to support healthy lifestyles and fitness in this vibrant, lifestyle-focused community. The events at Edgewater Fitness Trail at As this community grows and evolves, we want Harbor Shores to be known for a wide array of water, recreation and world class venues and real estate developments."
For more information, visit www.harborshoresresort.com.

Revised: 10/02/2019 - Article Viewed 11,414 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.