Several days ago I received my quarterly newsletter from the Friends of Webster Trails. These are always very well written, informative and packed with photos. But this latest edition particularly impressed me in one big way: there were three PAGES of news about all of the projects that the Friends (and their friends) accomplished this year.
Let me sum them up a bit:
- The Friends have created a new “Pink Trail” at Whiting Road Nature Preserve. The trail is a short loop into the woods on the west side of the Orange Trail. The trail was enhanced in September with two boardwalks constructed by Sebastian Kulak for his Eagle project.
- Webster Thomas senior Nicholas Hanby recently completed a new trail at Four Mile Creek Preserve as part of his Eagle project. the short, scenic trail follows Salt Creek to a bench and table near the south end of the property.
- FWT president Hal Harris and some of his handy friends further enhanced Four Mile Creek by installing a new set of stairs, allowing hikers to take a short cut to the north side of the res trail where it parallels the creek.
- There’s a new entrance to the Big Woods from Pellett Road, thanks to the efforts of the hard-working volunteers who attended FWT’s summer workdays. The previous entrance from Pellett had a very steep section that was getting a lot of wear, and has now been closed.
- Alex Groff, of Scout Troop 110, has constructed a new trail kiosk at the Hojack Trail, just west of 250 in the village where it crosses the trail.
- Finally, there’s all sorts of exciting things happening with the Hickory Bark Woods, that small wooded area just north of the library, adjacent to the Ridge Park sports fields. One trail through those woods has existed for a while. More recently, however, FWT Scout Liaison Eric Turberg and several other volunteers installed a platform in the park. Matt Morrison of Troop 363 and Truman Mortillaro of Troop 262 have constructed a boardwalk leading to the platform. The plan is for the Webster Public Library to use the woods, and the new platform, for outdoor programs.
That’s an amazing amount of work, and that’s just one summer’s worth of effort.
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: we have an amazing trail system in our town, and the Friends of the Webster Trails are the folks to thank for that. These dedicated volunteers spend hundreds of hours every summer creating new trails, improving existing trails, removing invasive vegetation, installing signage, bridges, steps, boardwalks, and so much more.
If you’re a regular user of any of Webster’s trails, please consider showing them some love by becoming a member of the Friends. It doesn’t cost much (really, just $10 or $15 — check it out here) and the funds they raise go directly to making our trail system better for everyone to enjoy.
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The museum’s 2018 Christmas Tree Contest is gearing up. This is a chance for local businesses, community agencies and organizations to get creative and decorate a 4-foot tall Christmas tree in any theme they see fit.
All veterans and active duty service members and their families are invited to a free dinner in honor of Veterans Day, on Thursday November 8 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at Spry Middle School, 119 South Ave., Webster.
Bartholomew Cubbins had 500 hats, and the Friends will be selling more than 260 hand-crafted hats during their Caps for Sale event later this month.
Owner of ROC & Soul Fitness, Malena Guadagnino and the owner of M/Body, Molly Flaherty, teamed up to create an all morning Barre Class event. They’ve brought together some of the best yoga and barre instructors in the industry, including instructors from: Balance Yoga, Hikyoga, Compass Cycle Studio, M/Body, and ROC & Soul Fitness. Four barre classes will be offered on the hour beginning at 8 a.m. at ROC & Soul Fitness. Participants will have a chance to win prizes from a raffle.
This is the seventh in my series of Bygone Blogs, in which I am re-posting some of my favorite blogs from the last eight years. This one was originally published on November 2, 2011.
It’s the most back-breaking time of the year.
Of course I took lots of photos. Since turnout was a little lower, chances are goo I got one of you and your family.
So it looks like Mother Nature is brewing up some wet weather for Saturday. Hopefully it will hold off enough so that families can enjoy the 
