On June 14, 2017, a Flag Day Ceremony at Thurmont’s Memorial Park was hosted by the communities of Emmitsburg and Thurmont, with the support of Thurmont American Legion Post 168, Emmitsburg American Legion Post 121, Thurmont Amvets Post 7, and Emmitsburg VFW Post 6658. Area Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, Cub Scouts, Brownies, and Venture Crew helped with the Flag Retirement portion of the ceremony. Thanks to those representing our Veterans organizations and Scouts for helping celebrate the 240th Anniversary of the adoption of the United States flag by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777.
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Once again, on Saturday, November 5, 2016, Boy Scouts from Emmitsburg’s Unit 727 will be hanging bags on resident’s doors to collect food for the Emmitsburg Food Bank on Saturday, November 12. The Emmitsburg Food Bank is in need of the following food items: cake mixes, flour, sugar, cereal, Ramen noodles, peanut butter, canned meat, canned pasta, canned pork-n-beans, tea bags, and coffee (1 lb. cans).
Items can be left on your front porch for collection in the bag provided (or another bag) for pick up on the morning of Saturday, November 12. Food collected from Scouting for Food is the largest donation that the Emmitsburg Food Bank receives each year and helps many local residents.
Did you know that more than thirty million Americans, including six million children, go hungry at some time every month? That today, there are more hungry people in our country than at any time during the past forty years? Emergency food providers across Maryland report an increased demand for services over the last three years, increasing their distribution from five percent to forty percent a year since 2000.
The National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America proudly provides continuing support to the National Scouting for Food Good Turn. This program embodies one the highest ideals of scouting—service to the community—by meeting the local needs of the hungry through the practical application of the “Daily Good Turn.”
This year’s Scouting for Food Program is just around the corner. Local Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturing Crew members will be all over town placing bags on neighborhood doors on November 7. On November 14, the scouts will be back out collecting the bags, full of donated non-perishable items, and then delivering them to local food banks. Your locally donated food items stay in your community; scouts in Thurmont will deliver the collected food to the Thurmont Food Bank to help our community.
Food banks all over the country rely on this annual food drive to stock their shelves for the upcoming holiday months, when food demands are the greatest. You can help by filling up the bag you find on your door on November 7, and then placing it outside your front door on November 14. The scouts will do the rest for you. Thanks in advance for helping out the Scout’s Good Turn Program and helping your community.
Not sure what you should donate? According to our friends at local food banks, some of the most highly needed items are: canned protein (tuna, salmon, chicken, peanut butter); soups and stews (beef stew, chili, meat-based soups); 100% fruit juices (all sizes); grains (pasta, whole grain pasta, rice, brown rice, boxed macaroni and cheese); cereals (multi-grain, low sugar cereals, oatmeal); canned vegetables; canned fruits; condiments; and hygiene products (diapers, toilet paper, tissues, soap, toothpaste).
Fall brings the biggest fundraiser for Boy Scouts of America: Popcorn! This fundraiser is through Trails End, who are now giving seventy-three percent back to scouting. They have increased the amount of product you receive this year, but kept the price the same. They have also added a couple of new flavors.
This major fundraiser for the scouts gives them points towards paying for their summer camp adventures. Local businesses are supporting the efforts by allowing Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Venturing Crew members to sell popcorn outside their businesses.
If you do not see a scout and would like to purchase some popcorn, please contact catoctinmtnpopcorn@gmail.com and a scout will be in contact with you. Thank you for supporting scouting.
James Rada, Jr.
Emmitsburg Commissioner Tim O’Donnell was recently biking along the Emmitsburg Multi-User Trails, something he does multiple times a week. Whenever he meets someone on the trail whom he doesn’t know, he “puts on his commissioner hat” and stops to talk to them about where they are from and how they like the town. On this particular trip, he met people from Towson, Westminster, Baltimore City, and Freeland.
Austin Steo, with the Trail Conservancy, does the same thing when he uses the trail. “I have not heard anyone say a single, negative thing about the trail,” he said.
While it’s hard to determine how many people are using the trail, it gets hundreds of people looking at the map on the MTB Project website. It is ranked the No. 6 trail in Central Maryland and the No. 4 trail in Maryland.
“You can also tell by the wear and tear on the trail how much it’s being used,” said O’Donnell.
The Emmitsburg Multi-User Trails were dedicated on June 28, 2015. Years in the making, it came about with the help of a $100,000 grant from the Trail Conservancy and a $300,000 matching grant from Single Track Futures through the Maryland State Highway Administration and the Recreational Trail Program.
Emmitsburg’s matching part of the grant came primarily from more than 1,000 volunteer hours from the Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts, International Bicycling Association, Boys Scouts, and Girl Scouts.
“The goal was for the trail to cost the town as little as possible,” O’Donnell said. He estimates that town staff put in around forty hours to review paperwork, give advice, and answer questions.
The trail offers terrain for beginners through advanced mountain bikers and hikers. It is hilly terrain with rocks, fields, and woods. The trails total 16.2 miles, with 7.2 miles of intermediate and advanced trail. Bikers can bike shorter sections because the trail is essentially put together in connected loops, or they can bike all of the loops multiple times for a longer ride.
“Don’t let the mileage fool you; the challenging, steep terrain packs more challenge into half the mileage of trail systems further east,” according to the MTB Project website.
The trails will only be open on Sundays during hunting season. When this happens, signs will be posted.
Other signage will probably be the next step in improving the trails. O’Donnell says that they hope in the near future to put up color-coded signage to help people stay on the trail they want to bike.
The trails are already helping promote tourism in town. O’Donnell says that a lot of time when bikers stop to eat, get gas, or shop in Emmitsburg, he hears about it from the business owner.
“They are using the facilities in town, which is what we want to happen,” O’Donnell said.
The trails took years to reach completion. It began about ten years ago when a Trail Task Force was formed that included members of the community, Mount St. Mary’s University, and town government. With a positive report, the project began moving forward.
“It’s a good project that allows people to enjoy our natural resources, and it shows that we are good stewards of the property,” O’Donnell said.
Steo said that he would like to see the town connect the trails to the town at Community Park. That way, bikers can park in town, get right on the trails, and when they return ready to eat or get a drink, they are already in town.
“Connection to the town at the park is key to the trails,” Steo said. “Very few places have that kind of opportunity.”
You can start the intermediate/advanced trail at Rainbow Lake. The beginner trail starts at the Annandale Road trailhead.
