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| Photo by Paul Zeph |
Since that time a group of dedicated volunteers have organized to form the Duncannon A.T. Community Advisory Committee which has logged well over 400 volunteer hours towards projects and planning aimed at raising awareness of the greater Duncannon area's natural and scenic assets and getting residents out-of-doors, enhancing Duncannon as a destination and gateway to the Appalachian Trail and various regional greenways, and positioning the Borough to benefit economically from outdoor recreation and heritage tourism. Special thanks to Fred and Event Coordinator Mary "trailangelmary" Parry for all their enthusiasm, time and hard work put towards this effort.
Committee progress and accomplishments thus far include:
Submitted an A.T. Community application having solicited 11 strong letters of support from local, County and regional organizations.
Saw representatives from 23 organizations and community groups attending and participating in Duncannon A.T. Community Advisory Committee monthly meetings. See contacts page for more info.
Recruited over 150 people to Duncannon A.T. Community's facebook group and received over 1,500 hits since July on the Duncannon A.T. Community blog.
Officially established an organization by obtaining a federal EIN.
Duncannon is one of ten communities trail-wide to have an ATC-appointed A.T. Community Ambassador serving as a liaison between the community and local trail-maintaining clubs in recruiting volunteers for stewardship projects.
Supported the Borough in moving forward with Apple Tree Alleywalk implementation by raising project awareness, highlighting its importance as a pedestrian/bike path connecting businesses and historical attractions to the A.T. and communicating Mountain Club of Maryland's support for a trail re-route through the alley.
Received media coverage:
- Initiative Links Fitness and Science / Perry County Times
- Town Celebrates Conservancy Link / Duncannon Record
- Duncannon marks Trail Heritage / Duncannon Record
- Duncannon, PA Designated an Appalachian Trail Community / Progress PA
- Appalachian Trail Conservancy
- Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club
- Mountain Club of Maryland
- Shermans Creek Conservation Association
- WQVL FM Radio
- Trailplace.com
- Whiteblaze.net
Thus far received commitments for the designation event from 5 speakers to help commemorate the designation, 6 authors donating books for door prizes, 5 retail and information vendors, 3 items for raffle, and 4 presenters for Sat. afternoon programming - with many more looking to sign on before the January 10th commitment deadline.
Received enthusiastic commitments from the Susquenita High School and Middle School Bands as well as the High School Chorus to perform at the designation event.
Susquenita Middle School students involved in the Trail to Every Classroom program have already submitted numerous original post card designs to the Post Card art contest. The winners will be unveiled at the event on June 2nd.
So what is in the pipeline for early 2012??
- The DESIGNATION EVENT is a little over FIVE MONTHS away.
- Designation event web site currently under construction and hoping to be launched during the second week in January.
- The Fundraising/Budget Committee plans to secure a premier sponsor for the event in the coming weeks.
- Plans for a community mural on the side of Miller's Newstand building are in the works as well as other volunteer beautification projects in advance of the event.
- Event T-shirts are slated to be ordered at the beginning of February.
- The Committee also hopes to produce a post-event display for an empty storefront on Market St. highlighting the designation event and Duncannon A.T. Community activities.
Contact event coordinator Mary "trailangelmary" Parry at trailangelmary@aol.com if interested in helping out with any of the above.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
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