Jubilee Day

by Raymond Arke, KTA Program Aide

On June 15, KTA hit the street in front of our office in Mechanicsburg to participate in the 89th Annual Jubilee Day celebration. Jubilee Day is the largest, longest-running 1-day street fair on the East Coast. We all felt lucky that the weather was nice and not quite as stifling as earlier in the week.
 
As a crowd of some 70,000 people went up and down Main Street, we positioned ourselves outside our front door with Alyssa Wentz, a representative from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). She was great and helped us promote hiking and trails throughout the Commonwealth. DCNR is always a valuable partner to have, and having a DCNR representative attracted more visitors to our table.
 
From 8 in the morning to about 6 at night, we handed out maps and brochures, educating visitors about KTA’s mission and hiking in general. We also passed out flyers that detailed our upcoming trips, including Prowl the Sproul, Quehanna Elk Quest, and the Fall Hiking and Meeting Weekend. It was great to see the interest from so many different people. Some community members said it was the first time they had seen our office and mentioned they would visit more often.
 
Overall, it was a fun day. It helped increase our visibility and hopefully lead to more hikers venturing out into Penn’s Woods. In addition, we were able to enjoy the vast collection of food the festival offered!