Presented by the Blue Lake Chamber of Commerce
Annie and Mary Weekend July 17 & 18
 SATURDAY JULY 17 - Noon - 4pm
The Dell'Arte Parking Lot on the corner of 1st and Railroad across from Stardoughs
"MAKE A FLOAT" EVENT - Free!
Bring your car, your trailor, your wagon, your tricylce your idea, some materials and especially yourselves ---- and make a float for the Annie and Mary Day parade. Dell'Arte will have on hand designers to help construct floats to celebrate our community in the Annie and Mary Day parade.
JULY 18 - SUNDAY - 11am -??
ANNIE AND MARY DAY PARADE featuring Samba Alegria
This year the parade will begin in the Industrial Park and finish with Samba and music in Perrigot Park.
The Celebration
The 3rd Sunday in July is set aside for Blue Lake's annual Annie and Mary Day celebration. Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, and the Humboldt Folklife Society, this all-day event attracts several hundred spectators and features music, workshops, baseball games and food booths in Perigot Park. Crafts made by local artisans are also available. Funds raised go to support community groups and projects.
About Annie & Mary
Copy courtesy of Natural Resources Services - Annie and Mary Rail Trail Feasibility Study
The Arcata and Mad River Railroad was affectionately known as the "Annie and Mary".
The 6.8-mile rail line between the City of Arcata and the hamlet of Korbel winds along the scenic Mad River through small historic communities, riparian forests and agricultural lands. The Arcata and Mad River Railroad — reportedly the first functional railroad in the west — is the end of the line for the Northwestern Pacific Railroad between the San Francisco bay area and Humboldt County.
The former train station in Blue Lake is now the home of the Blue Lake Museum
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Affectionately called the “Annie & Mary” for two secretaries who worked at either end of the line, this rail line has been out-of-service since the early 1990s and has little potential for supporting trains in the near future. Majestic redwood trestles still exist along the corridor, as does a rail yard with historic engines and logging equipment. The corridor bisects the small historic city of Blue Lake, complete with a station-turned-museum and an internationally renowned school of physical theater.
A segment of the proposed trail
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Community members have a vision of preserving this historic corridor as a multiple-use trail for recreation and transportation. The rails and ties were removed in late 1997 for salvage, the corridor is overgrown, structures and drainages are in extreme disrepair, and a number of adjacent landowners claim that they own the corridor instead of the North Coast Railroad Authority. With these and many other problems facing the longevity of the corridor, preservation of the route as a trail makes the most sense for the community. Currently, 11,300 miles of railroad corridors across the country have been preserved as trails, and another 19,000 miles of rail-trails are in the planning stages.
Though resources are scarce in this rural region, so are opportunities to safely hop on a bike or horse, or walk without reliance on a car. As a trail, the proposed route will connect the communities of Arcata, Glendale, Blue Lake and Korbel, and a segment of the California (Hammond) Coastal Trail via one mile of bike lanes. |