A 5k run/walk is set to take place April 25 at Bass Family Farms to raise money for Palisades-Kepler State Park.

The money would be used to help with park maintenance, including new wiring in the park lodge kitchen, said Gail Brown, president of the Friends of Palisades-Kepler State Park.

“Since 2022, we’ve spent $15,000 related to the Friends of Palisades Park. We’ve replaced frost-free water pumps, which are the pumps in the campground for people to get water,” she said. “A lot of what we do is step in when the park ranger calls us with something that needs to be done or fixed.”

One of the bigger projects Brown mentioned was about the renovation of the lodge kitchen.

“We want to update and redo the kitchen because the wiring is so bad. You can’t even plug too many things in without blowing the circuit. The wiring alone is going to be up to $5,000 because of the circuits and all the other things that go into the electricity there,” Brown said.

Trails, restrooms, lodges, benches, and other park features tend to fall apart or wear out over time.

Palisades-Kepler Park Ranger Luke Wagner described how trail renovations are progressing at the park.

“We’re putting a lot of gravel on our trails,” he said. “It usually extends the life of the trail, depending on how steep the area is, between eight and 15 years. So, we try to keep things on a rotation where some things are going to naturally degrade over time and need some renovation.”

There are scheduled trail renovations this year for the Woodland Trail and the Lodge Trail.

Park visitors have declined from the peak in 2020, Wagner said. But they expect about the same number of visitors this year as they have in the recent past.

“We definitely increased in 2020. Right after the pandemic shut down everything, all of the outdoor recreation across the state increased because we were like the only thing to do in town,” he said.

Park workers try to make the park easily accessible for everyone, including people with disabilities.

One thing that was on the wish list was a new accessible restroom facility by Cedar Cliff Trailhead. Wagner said that the project was scheduled for the fiscal year of 2026, but he hasn’t heard anything about the project, and said it’s possible it was bumped back.

Brown said it would be wonderful to have an accessible restroom.

“We’d be willing to step in and help, but because of all the ADA requirements, we would never be able to move forward with that without the DNR. The DNR hasn’t increased its budget in at least 10 years,” Brown said.

The Iowa DNR did not respond to a request for comment about the status of the project.

Upcoming 5K run

It’s the third year the Friends group has partnered with Bass Family Farms, in Mount Vernon, for the 5K run.

“We’ve been doing better every year,” Brown said. “Last year, I think we raised $1,500. I would expect to almost double that amount this year because we see some people who came in the previous years, and we are hoping there are people who know now that the race is going to be happening, and they sign up.”

The April 25 run will start at 9 a.m. Registration for the race is $30 per racer, and the registration includes a race t-shirt, swag bag, and the opportunity to win raffle prizes after the run. Racers must register here by April 9 to get a shirt.

Palisades-Kepler, located off Highway 30 in Mount Vernon, has five miles of rugged trails. You can also bring your tackle box and fishing pole and drop your line in the Cedar River and hope for a big catch. The park offers overnight stays in four different family cabins and also has a park campground. Reservations can be made online.