Bike enthusiasts gathered at the Lehighton Outdoor Center Friday evening to take part in the second Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor trail party of the summer.

Adult tickets were $40 and children ages 4-12 were $15. People could also buy “pay what you wish” tickets online offered by the D&L, ensuring that everyone who wanted to support the organization could attend. This fee included a meal from Pancho’s Mexican food truck and a mixed drink from Insurrection Distillery for adults.

People could browse a variety of stations set up by D&L as well such as a games and crafts station for kids, a historic station with museum artifacts and a local historian to answer questions as well as an informational station about the D&L trail.

There was also a trail party trivia game for people with the D&L Discoverer app on their mobile devices. At each station at the event, attendees could answer a trivia question on the app and once all five were complete, you could redeem a raffle ticket to win a prize.

Attendees could even test drive e-bikes sold by the outdoor center and take a 15-20 minute historic walk on the D&L trail.

Jerry McAward, owner of the Lehighton Outdoor Center, discussed information regarding e-bikes and their benefits compared to traditional bikes. He noted that they are exploding in popularity in the United States recently, following their success in European countries.

McAward explained that the e-bikes are only designed to go 20-28 mph and that people should not worry about them going too fast. They are ultimately able to help older individuals as well as people with limited mobility to maneuver trails better. Additionally, they help to ensure that people’s heart rates do not get too high and they allow them to bike longer distances than ever before.

“I’ve seen these e-bikes, and I’m not exaggerating, they change the lives of almost everyone who buys one because they ride them every day. If you had a hill, something in your way or a distance that was an obstacle, that obstacle is no more,” McAward said.

Richard Hughes was one attendee who visited the event with his wife, daughter, grandson and neighbor from Mountain Top.

He expressed the benefits that e-bikes have already had for his brother-in-law.

“They’re (e-bikes) really popular in Europe I guess and they’re just catching on here. I have a brother-in-law and my sister is a big bike rider. He stopped riding cause he can’t keep up with her but now they’ll be able to do it together which is a neat thing,” said Hughes.

He went on to praise the work done on the trail by the D&L.

“It’s such a great use of what was underutilized space, like when the rails were abandoned they were just sitting there. But now you’re gonna be able to go all the way from Wilkes-Barre to Philadelphia eventually, which is pretty cool.”

Ruth Hughes, Richard’s wife, went on to note the importance of supporting the D&L at an event like this one.

“It’s super important to support the D&L. It gets people out and about, highlights the history of the region and plus we use it (the trail) all the time.”

Daughter Callie Gray noted that the whole family had a great time at the event and highlights included the food and drinks, museum artifacts and the 19th century toys at one of the stations.

The group all agreed that they would attend again in the future if the trail party was held next year.

Claire Sadler has been with the D&L organization for seven years and has just recently become the new D&L executive director as of last week.

Sadler noted the mission statement and purpose of the D&L organization as a whole.

“The D&L was designated by congress in 1988 in order for us to preserve and tell the story of how coal moved from the mines of Carbon and Luzerne counties, where we are today, down along the railroads and the canal towpaths through the Lehigh Valley and along the Delaware Canal to fuel the Industrial Revolution.”

Trail parties have been a new D&L event this summer. One was recently held in Lehigh Valley the previous weekend and the organization plans on having another one along the Delaware Canal on July 10 with similar activities as the one in Lehighton.

Sadler explained the possibility of having similar trail parties in the future and making them an annual event for the D&L.

“We would have liked a little larger turnout but I think both with COVID concerns still lingering and so many events happening as people open back up, we’re kind of competing with that. We are hopeful that this will be something that we could turn into a more annual event in a way to connect with our trail users, our volunteers, our members and our donors.”

Money raised from the trail party will go toward the D&L organization and their projects such as programming, general operating for building the trail, the National Canal Museum that they run and the Josiah White II Canal Boat which helps tell the story of the Canal Era.

When asked about the importance of supporting the D&L, Sadler said, “I feel that what we’re doing as the D&L is really making connections to our history to make where we are today and where we stand relevant. Also connecting people to outdoor recreation, health and wellness, the trail, river experiences and areas around the towpath provide outdoor recreation that is an economic development to these towns. Some of these towns had a lot of industrial activity and now don’t have that as much. So really I think it’s important because of the impact it makes on our community and the tourism that it draws, helping teach people about what our heritage is.”

Upcoming events for the D&L include the next summer trail party along the Delaware Canal on July 10, the monthly Kids on the Canal event in Easton on July 17 and registration for the annual half marathon in November in which people can both walk and run competitively.

Sadler ended by promoting the D&L website in which people could visit for more information on the trail as well as information regarding future events and tickets.

“We hope that folks that are interested in using the D&L trail check out delawareandlehigh.org to get an understanding of how far the trail goes. We are working toward 165 miles and right now have over 140 connected. If they have any questions, they can contact us through the website.”