Darlington Days - Help Wanted

Your Wampum Chapter Darlington Days planning committee met in a marathon session last Friday evening to nail down the details of our participation in this year's festivities on June 2nd and 3rd, and at one point the President called to make sure that negotiations were moving forward to an orderly resolution.  It is clear that this is going to be a major effort to pull all of this together and that we're going to need some folks to come out and jump into the activities we have planned for the weekend.  It is a tremendous opportunity to build awareness and support for our National Scenic Trail that passes right thru the downtown of this community!  Here's what we have going on and what we're looking for in the way of help:


1.  We'll be setting up a couple of information tables on the grounds of the Greersburg Academy on Saturday morning and plan to have them manned from 8 AM - to 5 PM on Saturday and from 11 AM to 5 PM on Sunday.  We'll have maps, photos, brochures, trail tools, a hiking stick sale, and a raffle going on.  We'll need people to be at these tables (under canopy) for those time periods.  You can come out for an hour or two - or all day (or both days!) if you'd like, to be available to talk to people about the North Country Trail.


2.  There is a parade scheduled for 10 AM on Saturday morning that we plan to march in.  The "paraders" gather at the school (north-west of town on Rt. 168, near the Garrett estate) at 8:30 AM and commence marching at the 10:00 kick-off time.  We'll be carrying our Wampum Chapter banner and encourage our walkers to have a backpack or trail-building tool to carry along.


3.  Saturday afternoon (Saturday is also National Trails Day) Mr. Chuck Townsend of the Little Beaver HIstorical Society has agreed to give a 1:00 PM talk at Watt's Mill about the history of this area.  This talk will be followed by two hikes that we'll be leading:


    A.)  A Short Hike (1/2 mile or so) to the backpacking shelter at Watt's Mill.  Cathy Garrett and Eleanor Fairbanks will be leading this hike and it will involve a marshmallow roast, some activities for kids, and a short talk about Little Beaver Creek and the NCT.  We think we have a "shelter crew" in place to make sure we have a fire going and the area is in good shape but we can always use more support.


    B)  The Long Hike - 2 1/2 miles from Hodgson Road, along the NCT over the Kirkwood Farm and GL285 back to Watt's Mill.  Lee Fairbanks will be leading this hike which will also include the side trip up to Indian Rock and a short presentation about that historical feature.  It looks like, at this point, this hike is where we're going to need more help.  We need someone(s) to commit to being the sweep for this walk, and we also need to know if there are people who can help with car-shuttling hikers from Watt's Mill to the beginning of the walk at Hodgson Road.    ************** As a side note, during the times of these hikes while the majority of our people are at Watt's Mill working with these activities, JoEllen Sokoloski has committed to manning the info tables in town but she could use some backup *********.


The people who organize and promote the Darlington Days activities have been very generous to us in regards to space, publicity, and support so we're looking to capitalize on this opportunity to build awareness of the North Country Trail and its role in the community.


How are you able to help with this weekend of activities?  Let us know by emailing back to me at wam@northcountrytrail.org or by getting word to Dennis Garrett at dcgcag@gmail.com.


As usual, the pay for this work is nothing, but the sense of satisfaction will be IMMENSE!  Thanks for all you do for the trail!


Dave Brewer
Communications Coordinator