National Pike Wagon Train won’t take part in National Road Festival
In this 2019 file photo, members of the National Pike Wagon Train Association move along Route 40 into Hopwood as part of the annual National Road Festival.
Herald-Standard
In this file photo, members of the National Pike Wagon Train Association ride along Route 40, the National Road, as the wagon train heads up the eastern side of Summit Mountain on its way into Hopwood.
For a second year, the National Pike Wagon Train won’t make its annual journey.
“We’re just leery of someone getting sick and getting it from the wagon train,” said Doc Sherry, the master of the wagon train that is part of the yearly National Road Festival. “We didn’t want to take that responsibility on.”
The National Pike Wagon Train makes a yearly trek from Grantsville, Md., through Uniontown, on the third full weekend in May each year. Participants travel by horseback, covered wagon and by foot on the 42-mile trek down Route 40, also known as The National Road.
The decision was made jointly by the National Road Heritage Corridor and the National Pike Wagon Train Association.
But, said Donna Holdorf, interim executive director of the National Road Heritage Corridor, “The National Road Festival is not canceled.”
She said it will be up to individual communities to choose if they want to hold events during the time the wagon train would travel through.
“They can make their own decisions,” Holdorf said, adding some communities have called asking about the festival. “It’s whatever they’re comfortable with and what their community wants.”
Holdorf said that the state still has restrictions in place for large gatherings, and even though the festival takes place in May, now is the time that a majority of the planning takes place to bring the wagon train to the area.
“It takes a lot of coordination,” Holdorf said, adding that insurance, security escorts, meal planning, and registration is required to make the wagon train happen.
“We thought long and hard about it,” Holdorf said. “But the truth of the matter is not everyone had their shots, and they eat in a communal setting, they all ride together and it’s five days of travel.”
Also, a majority of the pioneer volunteers are older, and could be at very high risk for serious outcomes if they would get sick.
“God forbid someone would get sick and pass away,” Holdorf said.
“I hate to not do it, but on the other hand, better safe than sorry,” Sherry said.