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Party on for the Shuswap Trail Alliance

Tickets for the annual celebration are available exclusively at Skookum in Salmon Arm
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City councillors Kevin Flynn, left, and Tim Lavery don patriotic attire to sell 50/50 tickets at the Shuswap Trail Alliance party in 2017. (File photo)

Hot off the press, those coveted tickets are back for one of the hottest winter events in Shuswap Secwepemc territory.

Tickets to the annual Shuswap Trail Party & Fundraiser are available just in time for stocking stuffing over the holiday season – and they come with a brand new twist this year.

The Barley Station Brew Pub in Salmon Arm is raising a toast to trails with a brand new beer made exclusively for Shuswap Trails called Trail Head IPA. It goes on sale over the next few weeks and will be featured during the Feb. 1 event.

“Everyone working together, growing the Shuswap Trail system each year – it’s something good to celebrate; something to support,” said long-time Trail Alliance supporters, Stu and Kathy Bradford at the Barley Station Brew Pub. “We’re delighted to offer this special new beer to celebrate.”

Related: Shuswap Trail Alliance seeks volunteers for trail cleanup blitz

Proceeds from every glass served throughout the year will go to support trails, greenways, and active transportation development throughout the Shuswap.

The Shuswap Trail Party and Fundraiser organizing team is delighted too.

“It models what we’ve always tried to promote,” said event committee co-chairs Margaret Moores and Cathy Bartsch. “The event is a celebration of Shuswap trails, a taste of the Shuswap community spirit and working together; it’s a way to give back to the Shuswap…not to mention get out and dance in the middle of winter,” they are quick to add.

This year’s event features the Shawn Lightfoot Band with DJ Partico’s Patrick Ryley sharing the stage to keep the dance floor bouncing, locally made appies fresh from the DeMille’s Farm kitchen, and another silent auction table featuring more uniquely Shuswap experiences.

“Expect to find everything from ski passes to outdoor gear and backcountry tours to Lewiston Ultra Trail Run packages on the auction table,” say Moores and Bartsch.

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“Every single penny raised goes toward planning, building, and caring for trails and inspiring people to get outside on foot and bicycles and snowshoes and skis – even by paddle,” says Shuswap Trail Alliance executive director, Phil McIntyre-Paul. “We were able to support another five new trails this year, and have eight new trails approved and ready to build in 2019– not to mention helping to move the big legacy projects forward like the Sicamous-to-Armstrong Rail Trail and the West Bay Connector.

“Plus watch for another bloom of new trail signs in the spring and launch of the Secwepemc Landmarks and Trailheads project under direction of leadership from the First Nations communities.”

Shuswap Trail Alliance leadership is quick to acknowledge all the regional partners working together to make it happen. “The Shuswap Regional Trails Roundtable continues to be a defining hallmark of our efforts here in the Shuswap,” says McIntyre-Paul. “The commitment to work together, to reconsider our relationships in the landscape, to find a more just way to work as Secwepemc and non-Secwepemc leadership – it is humbling and inspiring, even when it’s hard.”

Tickets to the Feb. 1, 2019 Shuswap Trails Party & Fundraiser are available now exclusively at Skookum Cycle & Ski in Salmon Arm (Tickets $40, cash or cheque only). For information on the Shuswap Trail Alliance, regional partners, projects, and how to contribute, visit www.shuswaptrails.com.


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