Rails To Trails Project Making Great Strides Forward

First, a reminder...don't forget to put this upcoming Sunday, July 17th 2011 on your calendar! The Sullivan Striders are hosting the Second Annual Rails to Trails Run and Walk here in Mountaindale, and we hope all our readers will join them in the walk or run, with the proceeds benefiting the Rails to Trails corridor, the money being used for maintenance and improvements.

For all of our summer visitors (waving to all my friends from Skyway), want to let you know you can rent bikes from the Cinder Track Bike Shop in Mountaindale. Charlie is a great guy, and his rental bikes ARE TOP OF THE LINE! He also has a full service repair department, and can tell you from first hand experience that he does wonderful work...he tuned up both of my bikes this year, and they have never pedaled better.

It's been awhile since I have done a update on Mountaindale Community Development Project's Sullivan Renaissance project, so let's jump right into it.

Yesterday we had a volunteer work day, and it was a huge success with lots of work getting done on the trail, and around town as we race to put things in pretty good shape for all the guests we are expecting on the trail this upcoming Sunday. People young and old showed up at various times throughout the day to lend us a hand on various projects, and when we put our tools away at around seven in the evening, you could see the bounty of everyone's efforts. *A special thanks to Eric Lynch, a fellow camper at Skyway and a New York City Fire Fighter who showed up and worked on the difficult task of figuring out how to attach certain additions to our train. We also want to thank Master Instructor Alexandra Th. Lalieu and her Upstate Karate students for all the help they provided yesterday in the task of spreading yards and yards of mulch...their discipline and ability to stay focused were very apparent and appreciated.

A check list of sorts...

1. We have already put out ten hanging baskets on Main Street to compliment the flowers boxes. Hanging baskets are a experiment in progress as we learn what does best hanging seven feet up in the air...some plants do a lot better than others, and all the baskets require a lot more watering than the flower boxes do.

2. Thanks to some of our local Girl Scouts, who were in attendance yesterday, we were able to complete a new flower bed on the side of our community Mountaindale Art Center located at 58 Main Street. The girls were fast learners, and as always, their help invaluable as we move through our projects this year. Cannot wait to get the mulch down this morning so that this item can be crossed off our to do list as completed.

3. The BASIC TRAIN is now officially up on the trail in the old O&W siding across from the old lumber yard.

4. We HAVE WATER! A very special THANK YOU to Steve Vegliante, Will Illing, the Water Department, and the entire Town of Fallsburg government for making this happen. We appreciate all the help we are receiving in doing some of the heavy lifting that needs to be done, and water was a crucial component! *Another special thanks goes out to Allen Frishman for his work on the trail this past week.

4. The basic framework for our Litter Control station is in, and with luck that part of our project will be completed and in use just in time for the Second Annual Rails to Trails Run and Walk on July 17th.

5. The workout station areas have been completely weeded (Aaron Schmitt, our summer intern can be thanked for this) and re-mulched...we are hoping to start repainting and staining this week at some point.

6. One of our O&W Railway relics is now surrounded by a beautiful new flower bed, and we have brought in some beautiful stones that beautify the area, while at the same time make it harder for all terrain vehicles (which are NOT allowed on the trail) to access/exit the trail from our Mountaindale entrance.

As of right now, we are hoping to be doing a MAJOR PLANTING on Tuesday afternoon evening, so if you are looking to volunteer, you can call Sherwood at 845 346-6523 (cell), or just show up with a shovel or trowel. Again, thanks to our many volunteers...you are the force that makes community improvement and beautification possible.