(Darlington, PA) When you can combine a perfect, beautiful Sunday morning, exploring a national park that spans 14 states, celebrate the grand opening and ribbon cutting of a local Beaver County natural treasure and raise money for two important charities all at the same time, you can’t lose. That’s exactly what happened on Sunday Morning out at The historic Watts Mills Grist Mill site along little Beaver Creek in Darlington as dozens of people signed up to hike the North Country Trail as a fund raiser for McGuire Memorial and The St. Anthony School programs. The event marked the completion of a 200 yard section of the trail that was recently developed and renovated to accommodate handicapped wheelchair access to the trail. Joe DeMuzio, owner of DeMuzio Developers in Beaver Falls donated the excavation work to make the passage possible for wheelchair bound people and he was on hand for Sunday Morning’s festivities as several people aboard wheel chairs from McGuire Memorial tried out the new hard surface “spur” that runs along side the actual north Country trail. He had this to say:
Tim Ishman, Director of Beaver County Recreation and Tourism, attended the fundraiser as a volunteer for the Knights Of Columbus Council 604, that organized the event. He offered a little background, and the significance of the North Country Trail:
The event offered the opportunity for participants to get pledges and hike various lengths of the trail to raise money for two charities, and to raise exposure and promote the North Country Trail. The occasion was yet another successful venture organized by Dennis Garret , who has been a part of many fundraisers through the years for McGuire Memorial. Dennis and his wife, Cathy, own the land that the Watts Mill operated on over 150 years ago, and where the ribbon cutting took place.
Father Benjamin Barr, a Chippewa native and current Priest at St. Bernard’s Parish in Mount Lebanon presided over a blessing of the trail shortly after Joe DeMuzio did the ribbon cutting with, appropriately enough, a set of pruning shears.
For more information about the North Country Trail, contact Dennis Garret at 724-827-2350.
Here are some pictures from Sunday’s gathering at North Country Trail:
Photography by Mark Peterson.