C&O Canal Pride Days 2013

C&O Canal Pride Days is the largest volunteer event in the park and is a great opportunity to enjoy the outdoors and show pride for our neighborhood national park while raising awareness of its ongoing stewardship needs.

Join us for the 6th annual C&O Canal Pride Days this spring! A wide variety of projects along the canal are scheduled to take place over three weekends:

Saturday, April 6:  Potomac River Watershed Cleanup
     (Multiple locations, in conjunction with the Alice Ferguson Foundation.  See www.PotomacCleanup.org for locations and to register.)

Saturday, April 20:  Kick off Earth Day, National Parks Week, and National Volunteer Week by helping us ring in the Canal Pride Days season! Help to preserve historic buildings, improve the grounds, and paint buildings, benches, picnic tables and more at Great Falls Tavern (only 20 minutes from DC).

Saturday, April 27:  Help us to “adopt” the C&O at Williamsport by cleaning and painting exhibits, fixing potholes, planting trees, and more!

Saturday, May 18:  Freshen up the Spring Gap Campground and Boat Launch area by cleaning and replacing grills, painting picnic tables, and maintaining trails!

Saturday, June 1:  Celebrate National Trails Day with the C&O Canal Trust and REI at Great Falls! Help with trails and park stewardship projects.

Advanced registration is required and will open in 2013.  Please register here or contact Becky Curtis at curtis@canaltrust.org or 301-745-8889 for more information about Canal Pride Days and other volunteer opportunities.

 

Become a C&O Canal Pride Days Sponsor

Invest in the Trust's conservation and preservation efforts and help us continue to grow a sense of stewardship in the community by becoming a sponsor of C&O Canal Pride Days!

For more information on becoming a sponsor, contact Julie Siler at siler@canaltrust.org or 301-714-2211.

 

C&O Canal Pride Days 2012

Canal Pride Days 2012 celebrated the 5th anniversary of the program with yet another successful season of volunteerism and stewardship!

Saturday, April 21:  Celebrated Earth Day with the Canal Pride Days 2012 kick off, revitalizing the campground at Marsden Tract and laying a new trail and improving landscaping at the Great Falls Tavern.

Saturday, April 28:  Built trails and revamped picnic and recreation areas at Big Slackwater near Dam #4.

Saturday, May 5:  Spruced up Lockhouse 70 and the canal at Oldtown just in time for the annual Battie-Mixon fishing rodeo.

View photos of the Canal Pride Days 2012 projects on the Trust's online photo gallery.

Special thanks to our C&O Canal Pride Days 2012 Sponsors

    

             

C&O Canal Pride Days 2011

In 2011, Canal Pride Days improvement projects included vegetation and invasive species removal, flood debris clean up, towpath repair, painting, revitalization of campgrounds, graffiti removal, installation of a new walkway and driveway at Lockhouse 10, and mulching.  Over 300 volunteers contributed 4 hours each for a total of 1,224 volunteer hours at 5 locations in the park.

The volunteers at Fletchers uncovered the completely obscured 

ruins of the Abner Cloud Mill, just in time to be highlighted as a Canal Discoveries site.  In addition, two local Girl Scout troops cleaned up the banks of the river with a trash pick-up, held in partnership with Alice Ferguson Foundation's Potomac River Watershed Cleanup.  By day’s end, the popular area was completely revitalized after seeing havoc and destruction caused by a recent flood.

The work on the grounds at Lockhouse 10 perfectly complements the interior rehabilitation completed for the lockhouse's inclusion in the Canal Quarters program. Improvements included a new walkway and driveway to the lockhouse, as well as removing invasive vegetation that had obscured its view from park visitors.

We enjoyed 100%+ turnout at McCoys Ferry campground, despite cold, wet, and extremely muddy conditions. But no matter - this popular camping, fishing, and picnicking location looked like new when the passionate volunteers were done!

At Great Falls we had 80 teenage girls (from near by Stone Ridge School) spread 50 square yards of mulch--without complaint! This effort was timed to complement the latest construction efforts at Great Falls.