What an exciting Saturday night at the historic Great Falls Tavern as members of the C&O Canal Communities from Alleghany County, Maryland to Georgetown, in Washington, D.C., gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of the C&O Canal Trust over the past year and identify opportunities for growing their support for the Trust and the National Park Service in the coming year.
The evening started with drinks and activities – including NPS exhibits exploring the natural wonders of the C&O Canal – and a Silent Auction. A sitdown dinner was set in a tent decorated with twinkling lights beside the canal and lock. The evening’s program included a guest speaker, Dr. Gina Lewis, from Bowie State University, who shared updates on research which will be used to inform future exhibits. The theme of the evening’s program was The C&O Canal as a Classroom. The Silent Auction included unique one-of-a-kind artwork, packaged weekend getaways donated by businesses located in the towns along the C&O Canal, including PawPaw, West Virginia, Williamsport, Maryland and Brunswick, Maryland; in addition to sports outings to cheer on D.C.’s various beloved sports teams. The canal town packages included meals donated by local restaurants and bakeries, outdoor activities and overnight stays for bikers, hikers and kayakers, and even a weekend at a Canal Quarters Lockhouse near Washington, D.C.
A big thank you goes out to all the sponsors, volunteers, donors, small businesses, NPS and Trust staff members and community volunteers who provided the energy, financial support and good will to make this beautiful evening successful. The monies raised at the event will be used to assist the C&O Canal Trust, the official philanthropic partner of the C&O Canal National Historical Park, in supporting the Park’s efforts to restore historic buildings, resurface the towpath, and continue to grow and scale their efforts to protect, nurture, and propagate the rare, threatened and endangered native plant species in the C&O Canal National Historical Park. This year’s event included a paddle raise that will result in a gift of over $38,000.00 to be donated by the Trust to the National Park’s Canal Classrooms Program.
“Connecting children to national parks and public lands at an early age is powerful and it is so important,” said President & CEO Lauren Riviello as she introduced the evening’s guests to learn more about the Canal Classrooms program.
Since 2013, the Canal Classrooms program has been working to engage K-12 students to the C&O Canal NHP through STEAM-based curricula. Throughout that time, the program has welcomed 70,000 young people to Great Falls, Williamsport, and Cumberland.
“The C&O Canal Trust as been an integral partner with the park in improving, expanding, and continuing to fundraise for this very significant program. With support from the Trust and local school districts, we are working to expand Canal Classrooms programming into Washington, D.C. Funding is critical for the successful expansion and sustainability of the program to urban school students, and long-term support following the initial development stage will ensure D.C. school students, and students throughout the whole 184.5 miles of the park, can visit the C&O Canal for years to come,” said Superintendent Tina Cappetta.
In total, we raised nearly $200,000 from the event through the generosity of our sponsors and attendees. Thank you!
Thank you to our Park After Dark 2024 Sponsors
Canal Visionary
Kiplinger Family Foundation
Canal Patron
John Guttmann and Holly Cannon
AR Landsman Foundation
Canal Explorer
Francis and Carolyn Grant-Suttie
Canal Traveler
Paul and Mimi Bremer
Steve and June Chaudet
Mary Ann Fisher
Sandy Grace
The Jewell Foundation
Paul and Laurel Juola
Ed Ryan and Catie Malone
Mark Stover and Marlene Appleton
Canal Preserver
Clark Construction Group, LLC
Crescent Cities Charities, Inc
The Healthier, Greener, Kinder Foundation
GoodEarth
Marc Grossman and Mildred Patterson
KPMG
Michael and Sue Mitchell
Howard Morse and Laura Loeb
RaffertyWeiss Media
