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View Full Version : Damascus Gears up for Trail Days



SavageLlama
05-04-2005, 23:43
Who's going to Trail Days? Looks like the town is getting ready..


Damascus to celebrate Trail Days
By Samantha Sieber
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
May 5, 12:00 AM EDT
DAMASCUS – Susie Montgomery knows she’ll need two things at her bed and breakfast next week – a scale and an empty box.

Hikers from the Appalachian Trail will look for them when they arrive in town for Trail Days, a weeklong celebration put on by the town to show its appreciation for the thousands who hike the 2,174-mile trail that stretches from Georgia to Maine.

Hikers use the scale to see how much weight they’ve lost and how much their packs weigh, Montgomery said.

The empty box is her "hiker box." Hikers will leave items they no longer need such as food, hand warmers and toilet paper so that other hikers can pick them up.

"You take and give whatever you can," she said. "Everyone tries to help each other out."

Montgomery had four hikers at her inn Wednesday and will have a full house next week.

"Everyone here seems to be so hiker-friendly," said one of her guests, Lawrence Dragon, who goes by the trail name "Draggin’."

Trail Days kicks off this weekend with a townwide yard sale and street dance on Saturday.

The excitement already was in the air Wednesday, said Brenda Snodgrass, owner of the In the Country Bakery and Eatery.

"When we ride down the streets, you can see (the hikers) walking, some with their dogs," she said. "Everyone is talking about how many more are arriving each day."

Town officials expect more than 2,000 hikers and 25,000 spectators during the celebration. Damascus has been planning the event since last year.

More than 130 vendors will set up booths at the town park to sell everything from food to hiking gear.

Business owners have been working to get their stores stocked and employees trained.

Montgomery doesn’t cook anything special for the hikers; she said she just makes bigger portions.

"The hikers are always ready for food when they get here," she said. "They eat everything I put out."

The library has done some rearranging to accommodate the hikers as well, said its manager, Deanna Wolfe.

"We pull out books about trails, trees, hiking and wildflowers," she said. "A lot of (hikers) ask for them, so we put them down here rather than having to dig them off the shelf."

Snodgrass has been working for the past few months to hire and train more bakery staff to handle the extra work.

"This is the biggest weekend for breakfast throughout the whole year," she said. "I think we’ve got everyone trained and ready to go."

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