Latest news with #TrailDays
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
‘You would have no idea that Helene had hit here.' Trail Days returns to Damascus
DAMASCUS, Va. (WJHL) — Trail Days this year looks a little different after Hurricane Helene left devastating flood damage. Trail Days is a testament to all those who have worked tirelessly for the last seven months. 'I think it's remarkable,' Dakota Jackson with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy said. 'I think if you didn't know that Helene had hit Damascus' downtown, you would have no idea that it had hit here, which is pretty amazing to think about.' Organizers stated that the event attracts approximately 25,000 people to the town each year, but they were uncertain if the hikers would participate this year. 'It's down to the work of the volunteers,' Jackson said. 'Clubs have put in over like tens of thousands of hours of trail maintenance time to get the trail cleared so that we can have the festival and a trail today.' I spoke with one hiker who told me they've been on the trail since April 4 and that the damage to the sections in this area is unlike anything she's ever seen. 'It's just like destruction everywhere,' they said. 'And like, the cleanup people have done, like a really incredible job, like the volunteers and the Forest Service and all of them have done an incredible job, like maintaining the trail and making it so that us hikers can easily continue on. But when you're looking around, I mean, it's like the destruction becomes normal. Like, there's so much of it. Thousands. Like it's an uncountable number of trees.' Hiking guide and outfitter Ryan Crawley said the town relies on the influx of people that Trail Days brings. 'So Damascus is an extremely small town here in Virginia, less than a thousand people,' Crawley said. 'So every year this event is their biggest event. And so it really means a lot for this to bring an economic boost, I'll say, to the town. So the fact that we're able to hold trail days this year is a huge benefit to these people.' Everyone interviewed by News Channel 11 expressed gratitude to those who worked to make the trail accessible and ensure the town was ready for the festival, which holds great significance for the community. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
500+ Unicoi County students receive new shoes through CSX donation
UNICOI COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — CSX partnered with the nonprofit 'Soles4Souls' to provide more than 500 students in Unicoi County with new shoes. Elementary and middle schools were surprised on Friday morning by the donation from CSX. 'We're just really excited to be here today to provide some joy and comfort to these kids who've really been through so much in the last year in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene,' Bryan Tucker, Vice President of Stakeholder Engagement and Sustainability for CSX, said. Racks by the Tracks, Tattoo Fest, Trail Days and more | Weekend events in the Tri-Cities The Unicoi County school district also received an extra supply of shoes for its resource closet, which is available for those in need. 'With these families and these children, especially, have been an example for all of us, their strength, their pride and their resilience,' Tucker said. 'To be able to recognize that with this, just this little token of support, and seeing their faces light up, really means the world to us because they've [shown] us all and given us the gift of being able to see what strength and resilience and pride are all about.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
