Dear Friends of Patrick Eagan Park,

This is a reminder that this coming weekend we will have a superb opportunity to showcase Patrick Eagan Park before the greater Twin Cities community. This Fall's "Tour de Sprawl" will commence at Patrick Eagan Park at noon on Sunday, October 6th.

It's sponsored by the North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club and a host of other local community organizations.

Even if you do not participate in the18-mile bike ride, you will find the speakers interesting. They will include National Sierra Club President, Jennifer Ferenstein, Dakota County Commissioner, Nancy Schouweiler, and the North Star Chapter's Sprawl Committee Chair, Sharon Stephens.

See www.northstar.sierraclub.org/sprawl_tour_de_sprawl_2002.htm for more details (including registration form).

Also worth noting is the excellent op-ed piece on Open Space preservation that appeared in this past Sunday's Star Tribune. It was authored by Rip Rapson, President of the McKnight Foundation. See www.startribune.com/stories/562/3330142.html. In its new "Embrace Open Space" campaign (www.EmbraceOpenSpace.org), the McKnight Foundation lists the Eagan Core Greenway, including Patrick Eagan Park, as one of the Twin Cities top 10 (threatened) treasures. See: www.mcknight.org/openspace/treasures/index.asp. They specifically mention Friends of Patrick Eagan Park in their description of the greenway's advocates.

A link to the op-ed piece will be added to www.friendsofpatrickeaganpark.org. In addition, copies of the nearly 30 letters that you submitted to local papers on behalf of Patrick Eagan Park over the course of the past year will be added to the "Letters" section of our "Friends" Web site (within the next couple of weeks, we hope).

In the meantime, John Ward and I will hope to have the chance to see many of you at the "Tour" on Sunday!

---Jack Conrad