[at-l] Trail Fest, Trail Days, Handbook

>
> > Is Trail Fest or Trail Days that WF takes credit for starting?
>
> Actually, both!!!
>
> WF rants and raves that he started Trail Days in Damascus VA (hey, just
ask
> him) - that he had written the letter that got it all started - that he
had
> spoken on the phone with the coordinators of the event and suggested how
it
> should be run, etc.  Well, WF may have made a suggestion about a town
> celebration - but he had nothing to do with the hard work and dedication
> that went into, and continues to go into, the Trail Days celebration.
> Neither the Town of Damascus (http://www.damascus.org), nor the ATC (in an
> ATN article of a few years back), connect him in any way with the Trail
Days
> event...
>
> As an analogy to the above situation:  Many people encouraged Thomas
> Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence, and made suggestions
as
> to what the document should say.  Our history books cite only Thomas
> Jefferson as the author of this great document, and do not mention the
> people that encouraged him and made suggestions.  But, if WF wrote our
> history books, Thomas Jefferson would only have been a footnote in the
whole
> process...
>
> In WFs 1998 Handbook (the latest, and the probably the last), he hyped the
> "Trail Fest" celebration in his home town of Hot Springs NC.  He indicated
> that it would be a "real" celebration of the trail, and would not be
> anything like the drunken brawl (a paraphrase, since I don't have the
> Handbook in front of me - maybe someone with the book can post the exact
> wording) that Trail Days had become (actually, he had not been to Trail
Days
> in years and had no first hand knowledge of the event)...
>
> The '98 Trail Fest event was okay, with Earl and Rosie and WF being the
> headliners (and with the Blue Blazers From Hell prominent in the parade,
> making WF spit fire).  WF, around that time, had posted about the evils of
> trail towns, and the evils of trail angels, and how all of this detracted
> from thru-hikes (WF even went as far as stating that he would get off the
> trail in disgust, actually end his hike, the first time he encountered a
> trail angel - all lip service, by the way, because he'll never hike
again -
> not with five websites to keep going).  Well, someone (okay it was me)
> posted a somewhat sarcastic post (imagine that) about the evils of trail
> town celebrations, and the gawd awful people that plan them and produce
them
> (and I remember a great post from Kahley - a spoof about the proliferation
> of trail angels at every road crossing along the trail).  WF posted that
he
> actually agreed, and that he would not have anything to do with any trail
> town celebrations in the future...
>
> So, what does this all mean?  Well, it is a long answer to a short
question
> from a lister - and it is an interesting anecdote about someone who wants
> nothing to do with trail town celebrations, but wants all the credit for
> starting them (hmmm, I wonder if he started the trail celebration in
> Millinocket Maine held in September of each year???).  I am sure some of
you
> out there have a different spin on the connection between WF and the trail
> town celebrations, so let's hear 'em (maybe his highness will de-lurk and
> set us all straight)...
>
> On another note, if WF does get a Handbook out this year, check to see how
> many miles he has made the trail.  The date that he says his book went to
> the publisher was (interestingly enough) soon after the publication of the
> ATCs Databook.  Since WF has no pipeline to the ATC or the trail clubs, he
> would have had no fore-knowledge that the trail is 6 or 7 miles longer
this
> year than last year.  So, if his book has the trail longer than the
> 2160-point-something miles that it was last year, or anywhere near the
> 2167-point-something miles that the Databook states, it will be squirm
time
> (lawsuits - you gotta luv 'em)...
>
> And yet on another note, I just spoke with the owner of one of the trail
> related businesses that WF has always included in his Handbooks.  Seems
that
> WF always sent out questionnaires to these businesses in order to get the
> information for his publication.  It has been two years since they have
> received any requests for information.  So, if there is to be a Handbook
> published, it will apparently be using the information that was gathered
for
> the '98 volume...
>
> Pittsburgh
>
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