Four years ago I started doing a regular feature in the Friends of the Pumpkinvine Trail Talk newsletter called “Flashbacks,” in which I highlighted something in the history of the Pumpkinvine (trail or Friends) organization that was significant five, 10, 15 and 20 years ago. The purpose of this feature was to remind people of the effort it takes to produce something like the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail.  There were multiple law suits, lots of uncertainty, generous donations and times of celebration along the say. I thought that knowing some of that history might make people more patient when the see the slow progress on closing the gaps in the trail.

I enjoyed digging into the history through old newsletters and timelines. How easy it is to forget the people and critical events that brought us to today.

However, as I was thinking about flashbacks for the coming March 2017 issue, it occurred to me that there is a slight flaw in my method going forward. If I were to continue to do flashback at five-year intervals going back 20 years, then in the fifth year of that cycle, I would start repeating events from previous flashbacks. In other words, the 10-year flashback of 2017, i.e., 2007, is the same as the five -year flashback of  2012, i.e., 2007, and so on.

Since I started the flashbacks four years ago, I have one more year to do them before I start repeating the events, but the writing is on the wall, as they say.   I will need to find another method for giving people a sense of trail history or decide that it isn’t important to know that much history.