ATC is hosting a celebration in honor of the 75th anniversary of the completion of the A.T. the second weekend in August. Highlights include a hiker parade, activities for kids, guided hikes, and programs and workshops by some legendary people in the A.T. community:
- Gene Espy (GA-ME '51)
- Lucy Seeds (daughter of Grandma Gatewood, GA-ME '55, '57, '58?-64, A.T. Museum Hall of Fame 2012 Inductee)
- Larry Luxenberg (GA-ME '80, author of Walking the A.T., President of the A.T. Museum)
- Leonard "Habitual Hiker" Adkins" (GA-ME '80-'81, '82, '84, '95-98, '07, author of Wildflowers of the A.T., A Visitors Companion to the A.T., Best of the A.T.: Day-Hikes and Overnight Hikes, and several other hiking books
- Lauralee "Blissful" Bliss (GA-ME '07, '08-11, frequent A.T. presenter for REI, author of Blissful Hiking blog, PATC Maryland ridgerunner '12)
- Tom Johnson, Past President of the Potomac A.T. Club, A.T. history researcher, A.T. Museum Board member
We also have music from the following Trail musicians, as well as local favorites, bluegrass musician Chelsea McBee and Justin Starnes, and the Will Freed Band from Ohio:
- Eric "Fidder" Zimmerman (ME-GA '09)
- Randy "Windtalker" Motz (GA-ME '06)
- Mary Sue "Southern Harp" Roach (GA-ME '95)
The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club will be having a display and leading guided hikes Sunday morning. They are also hosting an open house at Highacre House, "the crown jewel" in the PATC cabin system. All 5 PATC ridgerunners, from Shenandoah up to southern PA are participating and will be leading hikes. This year's crop of PATC ridgerunners are all thru-hikers, ranging from '96 to '11.
We still need people to walk in the parade (starting 12:30 on Saturday)! We want to show the towns of Harpers Ferry and Bolivar that the A.T. is an important resource and the 75th anniversary of the A.T. is something significant to celebrate, so come with a banner for your class year, hiking club, or organization. Please email me at [email protected] if you're coming, so I can have a rough head count, add your affiliation to the website, and tell you when and where to stage and park. If you have a formal group, we'll ask you to fill out a registration form. The parade will start at the Bank of Charles Town and go 0.6 on hilly terrain to ATC.
More details about the festival can be found on our website at www.appalachiantrail.org/HarpersFerryATCelebration. More info about the 75th Anniversary of the A.T. can be found at www.appalachiantrail.org/75. The press release about the event is attached.
I hope lots of WhiteBlaze folks will attend our celebration!
Laurie Potteiger
ATC
[email protected]