Our Stories

Joint LLC & ITM End of Season Celebration held in Nevis, MN!

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Kate Lemon

LLC Board Member Hank Ludtke with his Vanguard Award

Homegrown Tomatoes on stage (l to r: Willis, Fran, and Larry)

This past Saturday, about 40 NCTA members and friends convened at the White Tail Tavern in Nevis, MN to celebrate THE END* of the successful 2009 trail season. Following dinner, a “business” meeting featured the presentation of awards handed out at the 2009 NCTA Annual Conference in Valley City. There were four national award winners from the LLC & ITM chapters including Ray Vlasak – Leadership Award; Florence Hedeen – Sweep; Hank Ludtke – Vanguard; and Harvey Johnson – Sweep. Chuck Church (LLC) and Florence Hedeen (ITM) were also recognized with the Chapter Honor awards. Matt Davis also provided a brief update on the availability of new Legacy Trail Grant dollars in Minnesota (the LLC will be applying this year and the ITM next year) and the formation of the new Arrowhead Chapter in Grand Rapids. Jerry Trout and Chuck Church were able to present 2009 highlights, recognize and thank volunteer trail adopters, and discuss 2010 plans for the ITM and LLC chapters, respectively.

After all that business was done, a slide show from the May 2009 NCTA group thru-hike of the Kekekabic Trail was shown in the background as the band Homegrown Tomatoes provided fantastic musical entertainment. Thanks go to Willis Mattison (LLC Board Member), Larry Kimball, and Fran Gack for playing! We particularly enjoyed the bluegrass version of the NCNST Ballad.

*No, we’re not actually done building and maintaining trail in Minnesota as we generally work up until the ground freezes solid – which we don’t know when that will be. Instead, the “end of season” more reflects that we take off time for Minnesota’s TRUE holiday season (the rifle deer hunting). After that, we hope we can sneak in a couple more weeks of work but that is up to mother nature. The LLC chapter is done building new trail for the year because their current project is located within the boundaries of the White Earth Indian Reservation. There the rifle deer hunting season lasts from mid October until January 1st.