giving back
B y M i c h a e l B o r d e n
// P h o t o s B y G r e g o r y C h e r i n
Scenes from 2024 ' s Garbage Trail Walk, clockwise from top left: The original Alice’ s Restaurant( now Theresa’ s Stockbridge Cafe). In the police car is Laura Atchley, with Stockbridge Police Sgt. Kirk Nichols. Volunteers Michelle Brown and Mike Babin dance to live music by the old town dump. The pickle ladies are Loretta Murphy and her daughter Bridget Williams. This year’ s walk is on Sunday, May 18.
Take a Walk on the Garbage Trail
ARLO GUTHRIE’ S SIX-MILE WALK TO FIND A CURE FOR HUNTINGTON’ S DISEASE ENTERS ITS 25TH YEAR
›› It’ s 8:30 a. m. on a gentle spring morning in May, and hundreds of folks from near and far are beginning to gather at the Guthrie Center in Housatonic as they have for the last 25 years to walk Arlo Guthrie’ s Historic Garbage Trail for Huntington’ s Disease. As serious as the mission is, the atmosphere is playful and electric. Once again, it promises to be a day full of food, fun, nostalgia, music, and costumes culminating in a concert at the Guthrie Center that Arlo himself has been known to take part in.“ The walk is done in May because it’ s National Huntington Disease Month,” says Jimmy Pollard, one of the event’ s longtime organizers who has helped bring the walk to life since its inception at the turn of the millennium. It doesn’ t hurt that the weather is usually beautiful, although Pollard guesses there would be just as committed a turnout if the walk were in January. This year’ s walk is on Sunday, May 18, and begins at 10 a. m.“ These are amazing folks proving year after year that doing good can make for a good old time,” Pollard says. The 6.3-mile fundraising walk-— which visits sites made famous in Guthrie’ s perennial holiday favorite, Alice’ s Restaurant Massacree— raises tens of thousands of dollars every year toward a cure for the inherited condition that afflicted Arlo’ s dad, Woody Guthrie, as well as the approximately 30,000 Americans with Huntington’ s Disease( HD). Another 200,000 are at risk of inheriting the devastating and fatal hereditary disorder that strikes in the prime of life.“ The HD Walk has always been a mixture of fun, fundraising, community service, and more,” says Arlo.“ Huntington ' s Disease has been part of our family history, and the walk raises much needed finances to support families and friends with a similar history. The work to find a cure was begun by my mother, Marjorie Guthrie, and continues to this day. We’ re just trying to do our part.” At the Guthrie Center on the day of the walk, a fleet of vintage VW microbuses ferries participants to Main Street in
May Holiday / June 2023 2025 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // // 43