HISTORIC PATHWALKERS FALL NEWSLETTER Nov. 2012 Our walking season is coming to an end along with the nice fall weather. The participation numbers this year were down considerably but that seems to be the overall trend in the AVA. It’s been a challenging year for our club and quite frankly I’m not sure how much longer we will be able to continue. Membership is dwindling and our group walks have been sparsely attended. We are sanctioning six walks for next year as year round or seasonal walks. They are: Grand Haven, Grand Rapids, Holland, Lansing, St. Joseph and Traverse City. That is half the number we had this year and we’ll take another look at them next year to see if we can continue. In the meantime I hope as many of you as can will take advantage of our walks. Lansing is a year round so can be walked almost any time. Just check the website www.ava.org for details. Our other walks will close at the end of November. Please be sure to retrieve the box(es) and send your stamps to AVA, 1001 Pat Booker Rd., Suite 101, Universal City, TX 78148 ASAP to avoid a penalty and money should be sent to our treasurer Alma Lucas, 5261 Southbrook Ct. #51, Hudsonville MI. The final walk statistics report must be submitted to the AVA at the end of the year so I would appreciate it if you could email that info to me when you have it. Even if you had no walkers the last quarter, please be sure to let me know. I’d like to thank everyone who has hosted a box this year and a special thank you to those who will not be doing it next year. We appreciate your willingness to help the club in this way. We couldn’t have done it without you! The holidays are in sight and I hope you all have a very enjoyable holiday season! Pres: Jean Woltjer jean.woltjer@att.net 616-392-2844 VP: Pat Korloch pk55@juno.com 517-882-1495 Sec: John Pierce jwpierce53@gmail.com 616-527-2413 Treas: Alma Lucas ajlucas@charter.net 616-669-2359

Next week Artprize 2012 will make its debut in Grand Rapids. Our seasonal walk which begins at the Big Boy Restaurant on Pearl is a great place to begin viewing the art. Our walk route will take you past and through many of the venues where you can enjoy the art as you walk. Artprize runs from Sept 19 through Oct 7 so be sure to schedule a visit. Check www.ava.org for more info on the walk and www.artprize.org for info on the art.

Another group walk is planned by the club for July 21. We plan to start from Kilwin's, 415 Phoenix Rd. at 9:30 a.m. This is a great summertime walk so we hope you'll join us!

We are hosting our next group walk in Grand Rapids MI on Saturday, June 16. The walk begins at 9:30 a.m. from the Big Boy Restaurant, 407 Pearl St. After the walk we will be conducting our annual business meeting. All are welcome to join us for both the walk and the meeting.

HISTORIC PATHWALKERS SPRING NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2012

Everyone is talking about the weather! It seems we’ve jumped right over spring and into summer with these record setting temperatures.
Most of our seasonal walk boxes will be in place by April 1 with the rest following on May 1. Let’s hope the warm weather brings out lots of walkers this season. Our group walk schedule has been set up as follows based on member suggestions. The June walk will be followed by our annual business meeting.

March 31 10:00 Lansing Michigan Historical Museum
April 21 10:00 Holland Gazelle’s
May 12 9:30 Zeeland Community Hospital/Spectrum
June 16 9:30 Grand Rapids Big Boy Pearl St.
July 21 9:30 South Haven Kilwin’s

We have twelve sanctioned walks this year. The Holland and Grand Rapids walk routes have been changed partly due to construction issues and should also be more interesting to repeat walkers. Let’s hope there are some tulips left by the time we do our Holland walk!
We’re introducing a new award for both the Holland and Lansing walks this year. The patches have run out so we’re changing to a high quality die cut soft enamel pin. They look great!

Information on our walks can be found at www.ava.org/pathwalkers or our blog http://historicpathwalkers.blogspot.com/ . We can also be found on Facebook, just look for Historic Pathwalkers.
Overall participation in AVA walks is declining but walking continues to be the most favorite form of exercise as shown in an AARP poll recently. Our club has New Walker packets available for sale and can be obtained by contacting any one of our officers.

Pres: Jean Woltjer jean.woltjer@att.net 616-392-2844
V.P. Pat Korloch pk55@juno.com 517-882-1495
Sec. John Pierce jwpierce53@gmail.com 616-527-2413
Treas. Alma Lucas ajlucas@charter.net 616-662-2359

Hope to see many of you on our walks.