Monday, June 4, 2012

Darlington Days 2012


Hello Everyone,

We completed our Darlington Days trail awareness mission late this afternoon, just as the first rain storm of the weekend set in.
We had our display in operation all day Saturday and Sunday; we were visited by a lot of folks that were interested to know about the trail, where to find it and how to become involved - some serious, some just curious.  One new member signed up.

Our hikes on Saturday afternoon, originating at Watts, went well.  Charles Townsend, from the historical society, preceded the hikes with a most interesting presentation of the history of the Watts Mill area.  Pictures of the hikes, the talk and the stone house foundation are attached.

A big thanks to Gale Blakely for arranging with the Little Beaver Historical Society for the space we used for our booth and all the prep work that made our display area work so well & being on hand all weekend.  Lee & Eleanor Fairbanks were full time the entire weekend, manning the booth, managing the hikes and setting up & tearing down, the whole nine yards. 

Jim Houk was a force at the marshmallow roast, creating interest in our hiking stick project and as a major fund raiser - Jim purchased a small truck load of flowers at the Roger's Sale on Friday, sold the flowers at the booth on Saturday and Sunday and donated the profits to the chapter - $54. We also sold one cookbook, one hiking stick and received generous donations from visitors for an additional $21.00.

Also, JoEllen Sokolosoki, Dorthy Boquo and Dave Wright were on hand throughout Saturday & Sunday at the booth and setting up.

Dave Brewer, the trail was in beautiful shape, the shelter area looked great and the old house foundation area, where the history talk as given, looked better than it has in 30 years. There were many compliments on the condition of the trail, the many great bridges, serious interest in the Jimmy Hupp memorial, and not one person opted out of the steep hike up the spur trail to Indian Rock, where a short talk was given by our newest Chapter member, Mike Appici, who has lived his entire life within a 1/2 mile of the rock.

(My thanks to John Vlah for doing a bang-up job of clearing that foundation last week and to Jake Erhardt for walking the sweep on the long hike!  - Dave)



The weekend was busy, but fun and I believe fruitful for our Chapter.  Thanks for all the work and fellowship and we will thank God for the two beautiful days that allowed it to happen in such fine fashion.

Dennis Garrett
VP, Wampum Chapter, NCT