Trail’s 30th anniversary celebrated Saturday
CABOT — The Butler-Freeport Community Trail is rated as easy, but getting it built was hard.
Its backers had to contend with nine years of lawsuits over ownership of the trail corridor and then damage to the trail caused by 2004’s Hurricane Ivan.
So Saturday’s celebration of the 30th anniversary of the trail’s opening on Oct. 2, 1992, was a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of the past and look forward to future projects along the 20-mile corridor enjoyed by walkers and cyclists.
Running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the trail’s Cabot parking lot, the event featured a railroad caboose decked out for Halloween, a display of the trail’s history, a food truck selling hot dogs and doughnuts, a table selling T-shirts and a bike shop display featuring the latest e-bikes.
Trail board member Art Borland sat behind a table with scrapbooks of the trail’s history.
“This is a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the trail,” he said.
“As you can tell, I’ve got a cane. My interaction with the trail is walking. I had to give up biking,” said Borland, a 20-year member of the association. “We’re planning to pave a mile from here north to accommodate people with canes and walkers.
“We’re hoping to attract people from Concordia and give them a chance to get out,” he said.
Chris Ziegler, the president of the association, said the paving project, paid for by a $320,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources, is scheduled to begin in the spring.
““We hope to attract people with disabilities or who are rehabbing,” she said. “There are a lot of nursing homes in the area. During COVID we learned that people couldn’t see family except outside, so this could be a nice area for them to visit.”
As part of that area, Ziegler said the association plans to finish building a picnic pavilion across from the caboose. The structutre will use bricks from a demolished dry goods store that were fired in 1876 in a kiln in Dennys Mills.
“We’re also starting a Little Free Library by the caboose. People are bringing books today to put in it,” she said.
She added the association plans to open the caboose to Boy Scout and youth groups to sell water and other refreshments to trial users, as well as decorate it for Christmas.
Visitor Barbara Parker of Sarver said her two granddaughters, Harper, 4½, and Addy, 1½, liked the Saturday’s Halloween-decorated caboose just fine.
“They love the caboose. I couldn’t get them out of it,” said Parker, who added she, her dogs and her daughter regularly walk the trail.
For Jim Yurek, the owner of The Bike Lab in Plum, bringing his bike shop’s merchandise to trail was like a homecoming.
“I used to live in Sarver. I was a volunteer for the trail for four years,” said Yurek. “I’m the individual who set the original geocaches along the trail. It’s still in play. They still do it.”
Geocaching is an outdoor activity where players use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called geocaches at specific locations.
Saturday, Yurek was displaying his shop’s wares including a selection of ebikes.
Ebikes are still pedaled by the rider but have rechargable battery that powers a motor to make going up hills easier.
“These are pedal-assist bikes. You can pick a level of assistance for either more of a workout or less of workout,” he said.
Mindy Knappenberger of West Franklin Township, Armstrong County is on the board of the Armstrong Trails and stopped by because “I love this trail.”
“I ride the Armstrong Trails and the Butler-Freeport Community Trail. I wish I had my bike with me. I guess I’ll walk today,” said Knappenberger.
She said she took up bicycling again when she was in her 40s, some 20 years ago. “I ride with my daughter. I’m friends with Chris Ziegler. "
Ziegler said she’s been involved with the trail association for 20 years.
“I got involved when both my sons were Boy Scouts and needed an Eagle project. I went to a meeting,” she said. “They were a vibrant group of people that were passionate about their trail. It was just great to be part of the trail.”
