Congratulations to the winners: Nicholas Bailey (Men’s Open), Elizabeth Hannon (Women’s Open), Stephen Sullivan (Men’s Senior), Donna Antkowiak (Women’s Senior).
We would also like to thank our race sponsors for their generous donations:
And last, but not least – this race would not be possible without the hard work of our Race Committee and the Tri-Valley Front Runners. Thank you! Please visit the TVFR website for upcoming running events or to become a member.
2021 photo contest featuring the SNETT Rail Trail is here!
DETAILS AND RULES
Who should enter: Anyone, any age. Exceptions: FBRTC Executive Board Members and members of the FBRTC Judging Panel.
What to enter: Any photos taken during June 2021 on any section of the 22-mile long SNETT (Southern New England Trunkline Trail) of nature, landscapes, people on the trail.
Note: A signed release from any recognizable people in your images is required, and you must be able to provide copies of those releases to the Franklin & Bellingham Rail Trail Committee upon request.
How to enter: Take a photo on the SNETT rail trail and post on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter only) with a hashtag #SNETTPhoto2021. Then email the photo (including the photo caption and photo location), and your name to fbrtcommittee@gmail.com. Photos should be jpg/jpeg files no larger than 10MB (no screen shots). One photo per contestant.
When to Enter: Contest runs June 1 – June 30, 2021.
Judging: Top 3 finalists (1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place) will be selected by a panel of the FBRTC volunteer members. All decisions made by the judges are final.
Prizes: The winner will receive a $50Think Franklin First gift card. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will all receive FBRTC’s free one year membership.
Rights: By entering this photo contest, you hereby grant to the Franklin & Bellingham Rail Trail Committee (FBRTC): Non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable publication rights for your photos in all FBRTC’s publicity materials (print or electronic), and the right to use your name in such publications. This includes the right to use your photos on our website, social media, in print and electronic advertisements and promotions.
What a year 2020 has been! Despite Covid-19, we have gotten a lot accomplished and because of Covid-19 the trail has seen a huge increase in usage. We hope you were able to take an advantage of this local open space resource.
Marjorie Turner Hollman, a personal historian, author of several books on Easy Walks in MA and RI, and an avid walker and nature lover recently visited the SNETT rail trail with Access Bellingham-Mendon TV and one of our volunteers Tony DaSilva. We hope you will enjoy learning more about the trail in this episode of Finding easy Walks Wherever You Are.
New episode about the Blackstone River Greenway that runs concurrently with the SNETT trail for about 3.5 miles between Blackstone and Douglas was just filmed.
You can also find more blog posts about the SNETT rail trail by Marjorie Turner Hollman on her website and more Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are episodes HERE.
On October 30, 2020 a small group of local and state officials and FBRTC representatives gathered on a snowy day at the newly finished Prospect Street tunnel in Franklin, MA for an official ribbon cutting ceremony.
We are beyond excited about this tunnel providing a great connectivity between the the SNETT trail in Franklin and Bellingham (and beyond)! We are already seeing substantial increase in the trail usage by both the pedestrians and the bicyclists and we hope you are enjoying this wonderful nature resource in our communities as much as we are.
We are very grateful to all involved who made this project happen. Thank you for your time, effort and perseverance! Countless hours and years of work are behind the improvements you see on the trail.
We would like to use this post to gather a collection of materials about how this tunnel project came to fruition, who helped along way etc. Below please find links for you to browse at your convenience.
Happy Trails!
PS. We will have an event to celebrate with all of you when circumstances allow.
It took one year from beginning to end and we are very happy to share that the tree signs have been installed today!
There are 34 tree signs installed along the the 2.5 miles of the SNETT rail trail starting at Grove Street in Franklin all the way to Center Street in Bellingham, MA.
There are a number of people we need to thank – the Franklin & Bellingham Rail Trail Committee volunteers who have applied for a grant (Robert Gilstein, Tony DaSilva), designed the signs and reserached the hardware (Darren Marino), managed the tree identification (Rita McCarthy, Darren Marino, Renata Gilarova), worked with the sign manufacturer and coordinated the install (Renata Gilarova) and finally our awesome install crews (Darren Marino, Rita McCarthy, Renata Gilarova and Chris Mascio with his family).
This project was sponsored by the Franklin Cultural Council (grant in the amount of $507) and the Franklin and Bellingham Rail Trail Committee.
We would also like to thank Doug Williams, Director of the Stony Brook Mass Audubon in Norfolk, MA and Cary Vandenakker, DCR for help with the tree identifications and the NHS Print for manufacturing the signs.
We hope you will enjoy this latest SNETT trail addition and that you will take an advantage of the QR codes on the signs to learn more about the individual trees. Happy trails!
The parking lot at Grove St.in Franklin, as well as the on street parkingnear the trailhead will be CLOSED from Tuesday, October 13 until Friday, October 16 due to the water treatment plant construction. Please plan accordingly and seek alternate trail heads/parking areas.
Submitted by Darren Marino, the group walk leader.
We have resumed our monthly group walk on the SNETT. We were a small group of energetic walkers with two well behaved furry friends, Oscar and Jasmine. We walked to the “nearly complete” Prospect Street tunnel which was full of activity and is looking great!
We also met two hard-working DCR employees, Anna and Joe, who were busy clearing the trail section leading up to the tunnel. The cooler weather today was ideal for trail use. We visited the StoryWalk(R) “The Kissing Hand” presentation near Center Street in Bellingham which will be up for your enjoyment through Wednesday, September 16, 2020! Hope you can join us for next month’s walk. Keep an eye out on our calendar, email and social media.
This young lady makes our 💕 happy. Thank you for your kindness!
Here is her story from her mom (shared with permission): “I know the town is extremely divided at this time given the recent news about schools, however I thought this might brighten up the town! My daughters and I have been walking the trunkline since the pandemic started. My oldest daughter loved the rail trail’s kindness rock section and quickly started making some. She has placed kindness rocks all over the town including the common, downtown area, and the rail trail. She then had an idea to make a kindness rocks section on the trunkline.
I present to you the newest kindness rocks project on the trunkline toward the rail trail. (Past the intersection of Old Grove, Spring St at Bubbling Brook entrance!”
You can learn more about Kindness Rocks Project here. #bekind