Since 1996, The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County has led community efforts to restore the iconic Octagon Barn property. As the future entry-point for the Bob Jones City-to-Sea Trail, the Trailhead Center will serve as a community gathering place, with educational facilities and interpretative features throughout. It will connect people to the land, promote local agriculture and reflect principles of sustainable design.
As their “class legacy project”, Leadership SLO Class 25 has become actively involved in its restoration.
“We are designing and building out landscape and structures for the Bob Jones trailhead at the Octagon Barn. This will be a space to rest and rejuvenate, where foot and bike traffic will converge next to a bike ‘kitchen’, hydration station and restrooms. We feel it is important to make this a welcoming space for SLO families and visitors to enjoy for years to come,” said Jim Duffy, Ten Over Studios and Leadership SLO 25 class member.
The project will include raised landscape planters, bench seating and a shade trellis surrounding a vintage windmill. Leadership Class 25 will donate the labor to complete this landmark trailhead. They are now reaching out to the community for donations to purchase building materials. The 34 classmates kicked off donations, each making personal monetary contributions to the project, working towards the $8,000 fundraising goal.
To contribute to this effort please visit lcslo.org/donate and select “Leadership SLO Trailhead Project” in the “My donation is for” drop-down menu. Alternatively, checks may be sent to: The Land Conservancy of SLO County, PO Box 12206, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406 with “Leadership SLO Trailhead Project” in the memo line.
Leadership SLO is a diverse corps of leaders advancing the educational, cultural, health and economic interests of SLO County citizens. Founded in 1991, Leadership SLO has over 700 graduates. Leadership SLO is a county-wide program designed to bring participants out of their “comfort zones” to learn new things, make friendships that will last a lifetime, explore personal biases, and learn new leadership styles and ways of handling diversity in opinions and people. Leadership SLO is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization governed by the San Luis Obispo Community Leadership Foundation, Inc. It is an independent program of the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce.