We had almost 400 people hiking the Lafitte Corridor this year. We had two City Council members and a Senator. We had planners from Design Workshop. But there were two people in particular I was especially happy to have with me.
This is the first time Persephone or Xy made the hike. Persephone can perhaps be excused for missing the first three, since she hadn’t been born yet.
There were a few problems. For example, I got a bit of a sunburn. Yes, I applied sunscreen, but not in all the right places, apparently. The backs of my calves got it especially bad. But all in all I was happy with how everything came together.
I’m utterly astonished at how this event has grown — from three people in 2005 to something like 380 or 390 this year.
This is way beyond anything I could do on my own. It was a team effort more than ever this year. Even compiling a list of all our sponsors and partners and helpers is a challenge, there are that many.
Not bad for a small group of volunteers working in their spare time. And the trail hasn’t even been built yet.
And to think it all started with an offhand comment my friend David Bryan made as we walked by the bayou one day six years ago. To think how much has gone down since then, and how much has changed, how much we’ve lost, and how much we’ve accomplished, and how much remains to be done. It makes my head spin.
I’ve posted a few more facts and figures and choice quotations on the FOLC website, so if you’re interested check it out.
psst: check the labels on your bottom axis.
That’s nice of you, though I think I made the comment at least twice.
But you and everyone else at FOLC just deserve a tremendous amount of credit for the accomplishment. I hope the people and energy behind FOLC won’t disperse once the trail is built. Y’all have done something extremely rare, effect real positive change in New Orleans, and now that you’ve got that momentum, y’all should think about another goal and keep the ball rolling.
[…] greenway, a project he’s been involved with for five years now. In the following post, Hike Report 2011, he gives a first-hand account of this years’ Lafitte Corridor […]