Hank Aaron Promotes Trail Expansion

Former baseball home run king Hank Aaron was back in Wisconsin Thursday, helping publicize the upcoming expansion of the state recreation trail that bears his name.

The Hank Aaron State Trail runs several miles from downtown Milwaukee to the Milwaukee-Waukesha county line. Four hundred thousand people live within three miles of the trail. Work is underway on a multi-million dollar expansion of the trail into a 24-acre site that has been an abandoned rail yard. The renovated site will include more bike trail, community gardens, a wildlife habitat and fishing and canoeing access to Milwaukee’s Menomonee River.

Aaron says the expansion is aimed at helping children. “We’re doing something for the future.” Aaron says while he played baseball for 23 years, “But [I] have enjoyed more helping children”

Miriam Miranda lives near the recreational trail. She says she is excited that kids will have access to an educational center that teaches ecology.

The Hank Aaron Trail project still hopes to raise about $4 million. Taxpayers, donors and corporations have already kicked in about $22 million.