We welcomed approximately 30 volunteers across three locations—Elkhart Sterling Avenue, Goshen Abshire Park, and Middlebury Krider Gardens—for this year’s Celebrate Trails Day on April 25. This nationwide event featured projects in all 50 states on April 25, highlighting the shared commitment to maintaining and enhancing our trail systems. Our local volunteers made a meaningful impact by spreading mulch, planting seeds, …
On a cold April morning, Rory Robinson and Paul Labovitz rolled onto the Pumpkinvine with a few of the people who helped build it. The wind had teeth, but riders were already out, which surprised no one and pleased everyone. Rory has spent a career fighting for trails across the Midwest. Paul ran the Indiana Dunes as National Park Service …
In March, Josh Robeson, project coordinator for the Pumpkinvine Trails Coalition, attended the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C., representing the Pumpkinvine Trails Coalition. The annual three-day event, organized by the League of American Bicyclists, brings together advocates, educators, and community leaders from across the country for seminars, collaboration, and Capitol Hill meetings with elected officials. Indiana’s delegation, which included representatives from …
We are very excited to share the news that on September 19th, the Friends of the Pumpkinvine Trail, Inc. was awarded a $100,000 READI grant to assist in completing the trail. Recent construction cost volatility has made it challenging to know exactly how much the final section will actually cost, but this grant puts the Friends in a good financial …
By Brittany Short I remember attending my first Friends of the Pumpkinvine Board meeting in 2016. The most memorable item on the agenda that day explored the question: What does the Friends of the Pumpkinvine become after all the “gaps” are complete? Conversations about the Shipshewana extension had begun, we were actively engineering the section between County Roads 20 and …
The Pumpkinvine Nature Trail would not be possible without the tremendous support of this community through volunteerism, sponsorships, advocacy, and donations. Because we value every commitment made to the trail, we are making a change to our donor recognition program to reflect that gratitude. Rather than referring to those who donate as “members”, all donors will now be referred to …
by Brittany Short Trail users are looking forward to the Pumpkinvine’s completion. A short segment between County Roads 35 and 20 in Middlebury is the last remaining gap in this 17-mile path from Goshen to Shipshewana, Indiana. In the fall of 2020, we were confident we could finish construction by the end of this year. But since then, wetland related …
Following John Yoder’s retirement in December 2019, Brittany Short became the second-ever board president in Friends of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail history. In the preceding two and a half years, she guided the board through a handful of long-term board member retirements and final gap projects. In May of this year, Brittany resigned from the board of directors to take on …
