Shawano, Wisconsin
.25 mile
Alpine Shores Park Grace Trail®
Small in Size. Full of Wonder.
Alpine Shores Park Grace Trail®
Tucked into a wooded neighborhood park, this quarter-mile Grace Trail winds past a quiet pond, wildlife, and 23 hand-forged woodland animals—creating a surprisingly magical place to walk the five questions.
About This Trail
Every Grace Trail shares the same five questions, yet no two are exactly alike. Discover the landscape, stories, and community that shape this one.
Just steps from a residential street, the Alpine Shores Park Grace Trail® slips quietly into another world.
The quarter-mile wooded loop winds beneath mature trees and alongside a peaceful pond, with ducks, deer, changing light, and wildlife appearing throughout the seasons. Hidden along the way are 23 hand-forged woodland animals, inviting children and adults to slow down, look more closely, and notice what they might otherwise miss.
The Grace Trail questions are presented in English, Spanish, and Menominee, reflecting the people, cultures, and history connected to the region.
Alpine Shores is proof that a meaningful Grace Trail doesn't require a vast landscape. Sometimes a small patch of woods can hold an extraordinary amount of possibility.
Trail Features
Every community is different. Grace Trail is designed to adapt to the people, places, and purpose of each one.
Powered By Community
Every Grace Trail is rooted in its community. From the people who champion it to the stories it reflects, each trail becomes a one-of-a-kind expression of place.
Alpine Shores may be compact, but the community effort behind it was anything but small.
The project brought together local residents, businesses, civic supporters, volunteers, and donors who contributed funding, materials, professional services, craftsmanship, and time. Local organizations—including a major healthcare supporter—helped make the vision possible.
Those contributions shaped the Trail itself, from its art and multilingual signage to landscape features and locally crafted details. Supporters are celebrated through Trail events and community gatherings, reflecting the many hands behind this shared space.
The result is a neighborhood trail that feels both intimate and generous—built through the belief that even a small public space can become something meaningful when a community invests in it together.
Vision That Keeps Growing
Alpine Shores began with one person seeing possibility in an ordinary piece of land.
Through Janis “Matty” Mathison’s leadership, persistence, and ability to bring people together, that possibility became a shared community project—supported by residents, businesses, volunteers, and organizations willing to contribute what they could.
Her approach is simple but powerful: invite people into a meaningful idea, give them a way to help, and celebrate everyone who makes it possible.
Life Along The Trail
Along the way, simple moments begin to stand out— what you notice, what you feel, and what stays with you.
Footsteps
& Life
This small loop welcomes many ways of moving through it—neighbors out for a walk, families searching for hidden animals, children exploring, and visitors spending time with the five questions. Its scale makes Grace feel approachable: something to encounter together, or quietly on your own.
The pond, mature trees, wildlife, and changing seasons give the Trail a different character throughout the year. Ducks appear near the water, deer move through the woods, and shifting light invites walkers to notice a landscape that never feels quite the same twice.
Nature's
Rhythm
The details along the Trail carry the fingerprints of the community that created it. Hand-forged animals, locally crafted elements, and signage in three languages turn a compact neighborhood path into something unmistakably its own—a place shaped by many contributions and made to welcome many people.
Held by
Community
Stories Along the Way
Books and reflection share the same path here. The Little Free Library and Storybook Trail invite families to pause, read, exchange a story, and continue around the loop—adding moments of curiosity and connection to a park already filled with movement, play, and everyday community life.
Held by Community
The community is visible in the details. Hand-forged animals, locally crafted elements, and signage in three languages give this compact neighborhood Trail a character all its own. What surrounds the five questions reflects the many hands, ideas, and contributions that helped shape the place.
Footsteps & Life
A parent walks while waiting for a game to begin. Friends take a loop and talk. Families move between the fields, books, and five questions. Here, Grace Trail becomes part of what people are already doing—a place for reflection woven naturally into the rhythm of the park.
Footsteps & Life
This small loop welcomes many ways of moving through it—neighbors out for a walk, families searching for hidden animals, children exploring, and visitors spending time with the five questions. Its scale makes Grace feel approachable: something to encounter together or quietly on your own.
The Sound of the Park
Bouncing balls, whistles, pickleball paddles, children laughing, and neighbors greeting one another create the soundtrack here. Reflection happens alongside it all, showing that a meaningful pause doesn't require silence—or stepping away from the activity of everyday life.
Nature's Rythym
The pond, mature trees, wildlife, and changing seasons give the Trail a different character throughout the year. Ducks appear near the water, deer move through the woods, and shifting light invites walkers to notice a landscape that never feels quite the same twice.
Tales From The Trail
Love in any language is fluently spoken here.
At Alpine Shores, part of the experience is discovering what isn't immediately obvious.
Tucked among the trees and along the path are 23 hand-forged woodland animals. Spotting them turns a walk into a kind of quiet scavenger hunt—especially for children, but often for the adults walking beside them too.
The animals invite people to do something the Grace Trail questions ask in their own way: slow down and pay attention. A glimpse of iron among the leaves, a duck near the pond, or a question encountered at just the right moment can shift an ordinary walk into something more memorable.
Here, wonder doesn't come from the size of the landscape. It comes from noticing what's already there.
Shared Beyond the Trail
Local news features, community photos, and social media posts have carried these stories far beyond Shawano—drawing new walkers and inspiring those looking to bring healing to their own small neighborhood parks.
FOUNDING PARTNERS
This installation was made possible through a deep collaboration between local residents, community educators, and cultural advocates. By combining local funding with a shared mission for trilingual accessibility, these partners created a bridge of connection for the entire Shawano village.
