Forbidden Drive in the Wissahickon.

by Pete Mazzaccaro

This fall, Friends of the Wissahickon will run its third annual All Trails event, a four-month long fundraising extravaganza that not only helps raise money for maintenance of the park but gets hundreds of participants to explore the park’s more than 50 miles of trails.

On Saturday, Aug. 4, the FOW will host a “Warm Up” event at Chestnut Hill Friends Meetinghouse, 20 E. Mermaid Lane. The event will begin at 10 a.m.

The All Trails Event was an idea that development manager Lorraine Awuku said had been kicking around the organization before she arrived three years ago. It needed only someone to run it. Soon after she started working at FOW, she took it on.

So what is the All Trails Event? It’s a fundraiser that challenges anyone who wants to take it on to set goals to traverse the park’s 50 miles of trails while collecting donations from their friends and families. Last year’s All Trails Challenge saw 245 people hike more than 5,000 miles and raise almost $30,000.

“All Trails gives people an opportunity to come out and experience the park,” Awuku said. “We give them incentives; we have guided hikes. It’s to get them out in the park and explore it. And it’s a fund raiser.”

Part of its success depends on participants to spread the word.

“Once they’ve joined, we encourage people to use social media to ask for people to sponsor their hike. It can really be any way they want to give,” Awuku said.

FOW executive director Maura McCarthy said one of the main factors that led to the creation of the All Trails Challenge came from observations by the FOW that a lot of park users only use a small portion of its 1,800 acres.

“One of the things we noticed for a long time is that people experience the park in really hyper local ways,” McCarthy said.  “People seldom move outside of their immediate gateway. They tend to be really intimate with a small portion of the park.”

The park attracts 1.2 million visits a year, McCarthy said. The FOW estimates some 450,000 of those visits are “unique.” The All Trails Challenge is one way to reach out to that large user group to grow FOW’s membership, which is currently some 2,300 households.

Since it began, All Trails has helped grow that membership number.

“It’s the single largest driver for new members to FOW in the whole time I’ve been here, and I’ve been here 13 years” McCarthy said. “It’s a fund raiser that has an experiential and educational component. We hope at the end, you’ll see why it’s so important that we raise money to support this park.”

McCarthy said that the event is not only essential for fundraising but expanding the FOW’s volunteer base.

“It’s awesome for membership, fundraising education and advocacy,” she said.

Awuku said the challenge kicks off early for FOW members, August 20, while the rest of the public can get started on September 4. Throughout the challenge, there are guided hikes led by FOW staff that can help familiarize people with parts of the park they may not know well. There are parties, social events and more. In September, the FOW will host a kickoff party at Wissahickon Brewing Co. complete with DJ.

For anyone interested in participating, Awuku said the Aug. 4 Warm Up is a good place to start.

“It’s very important for those who haven’t taken part in something like this before,” she said. “Every time you start an event, you have a lot of questions. This is to gather people together and let them know all the meat and potatoes: What is it, where are the trails, how to use apps to log your miles.”

For those who raise a great deal, there are prizes, including a week-long island getaway, complete with airfare, a weekend getaway at SkyTop Lodge Resort, a night on the town in Philadelphia plus other prizes and giveaways.

“We really want people to come out, get to know the park and we want to thank them for supporting us,” Awuku said.

For more information and to register, visit fow.org/alltrailschallenge

Pete Mazzaccaro can be reached at 215-248-8802 or pete@chestnuthilllocal.com