Planet walk at Riverwalk park is ready for you to orbit around

CHELAN - The Lake Chelan Rotary has been in the process of installing an interactive planet walk on the south side of Riverwalk Park that will educate young and old about our solar system.

After three months of conversations with Chelan Public Utility District (PUD) Commissioners, Rotarian Russ Jones was able to receive the green light for the project.

Jones first brought up the educational concept five years ago. “I thought it would be a cool thing to have here, where people can get the basic knowledge of our solar system: the order of the planets and just a little bit of astronomy information,” he explained.

The different planet stations will be spaced along the walk to a scale of true distance from the sun, and each will be made out of durable material. Each planet will be scaled down to match the 18-inch sun. In the stations there will be a picture of the planet along with a plaque full of information and a QR scan that will take you directly to NASA’s website for more information.

Twenty-five fellow Rotarians have been involved with the project, plus a number of astronomers have also reviewed the information that will be posted at each station. The total cost of the project is $15,000 and roughly half of that was paid by the Chelan Rotary. A Rotary District grant helped fund the other half of the project.

Make sure to take a walk down to Riverwalk, grab a brochure and explore the mile and a half planet walk. Jones hopes the project is well received by the community, “We are trying to do this in a way it doesn’t distract in any way from Riverwalk, but enhance the walk and hopefully it will be a great field trip outing for school kids.”