Greetings! Feb. '18

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the H&F Trolley Trail Association's newsletter, The Signal Bell! It will be one of the ways we keep you informed on our progress and outlook on the trial ahead (no pun intended!).

Of course, we welcome your feedback along the way. If you have any suggestions on content or how to better connect you to our mission, please provide those to [email protected].  We hope to hear from you!

We also encourage you to visit our Facebook page for information regarding the association and a brief history of the H&F Trolley. We will post meeting times and locations, dedicated events, and other relevant information on Facebook to keep you in the know. 

By way of a little background, the H&F Trolley Trail Association was formed in 2017 with the primary goal of extending the existing Thurmont Trolley Trail to the former Hagerstown & Frederick Trolley Trail through Thurmont and, eventually, into Frederick County. We believe the benefits of the trail cannot be overstated. Such a trail will provide muh needed connectivity withing the town of Thurmont, its town parks, and its businesses and will afford residents and visitors a great way to get outside and enjoy the town. 

We're very excited as we begin to formulate plans for 2018 and beyond We are a new organization, so at this primary stage in our development, we are putting into place all of the corporate structures necessary to provide a good foundation from which to operate and grow. TO that end, we haave established a bank account with PNC and have filed for 501(c)(3) non-profit status to facilitate the business side of making the trail a reality. These are necessary first steps to bringing to fruition the dream of the H&F Trolley Trail.

In January 2018, we held our first public meeting. With those in attendance, we discussed the immediate goal of implementing the trail north of town from Memorial Park to ultimately connect to Eyler Road and Eyler Park. There was much good discussion on ways to spread the word about the trail, networking with other trail groups, and challenges we may face in the future.

 In fact, this meeting resulted in the aforementioned application for non-profit status. We sent this action as a first-quarter 2018 goal and are on our way to achieving it!

As we continue down range planning, we hope to schedule more meetings open to members as well as the public. The Facebook page will be the best place to find updates for our events. Most of all, we need your help! We encourage any who are interested to get involved. 

Please let us know how you would like to help! More details to come. 

Happy Trails!

-Bryant Despeaux