Winter Hike Message: Take Charge of Your Health!

  • By Teri Stein
  • February 11, 2013
  • 378
                        
Summary: Normally shuttered and sleepy throughout the winter months, historic Schoenbrunn Village came alive recently as the site of a popular outdoor cold weather event. “We’re cold, but it’s fun,” said Kyra Ditto, 7, of New Philadelphia, a participant in the Healthy Tusc Winter Hike held on Sat. Feb. 9 at historic Schoenbrunn Village. The hike, which led more than 300 participants around the village grounds, featured stops to see a spinning demonstration and to learn about life at Schoenbrunn during the winter. “We come every year. They love this. It’s so nice to get outside,” said Monica Scott of New Philadelphia as her children, Benjamin and Katelyn, had fun playing along the fence at the Winter Hike. “We enjoyed it, it breaks up the winter,” said Tessa Klaiber of the event as her family, husband, Nate; son, Arden, 6; and daughter, Adlee, who is almost 4, took a break for the free lunch of bean soup and corn bread. Adlee confirmed the event’s success by saying that she liked walking and the soup was good. Food servers Vickie Ionno, of the New Philadelphia City Health Department; Tuscarawas County Commissioner Chris Abbuhl, and Mike Fredericks of Fredericks’ Insurance, were kept busy dishing up many cups of the soup made from an old family recipe from Barbara Burns, chairperson of Healthy Tusc. The Winter Hike is always held close to Valentine’s Day because it’s something good you can do for your heart. “We want people to be healthy by choice and not by chance,” said Burns. “We don’t want people to use the winter weather as an excuse for not exercising.” Healthy Tusc is comprised of many Tuscarawas County organizations. Their mission is to improve the health and wellness of county residents. The event was planned to promote the many benefits of exercise. “It’s hard to go out on a good walk and not come back feeling better,” said Burns. “It increases your energy,” added Steph Wills, who organized the event. “Walking is something you can do year round inside and out. Some people get bored if they walk the same places, so we wanted to find an interesting place for them to walk,” said Wills of the selection of Schoenbrunn for the event. Seeing Schoenbrunn in the snow is a real contrast to the lush green surroundings in the warmer months. “In the summer, you look at the cabins and think about how hard they had it but when you see the village in the winter you realize it must have been a real labor of love to live here,” said Burns. A number of volunteers were stationed at the village’s schoolhouse to depict what life was like during the harsh winter months. The February full moon was known as “the moon of the popping trees, because it got so cold that the sap in the trees would freeze and the bark would make a loud popping sound,” said Mark Burgan of Sugarcreek, a descendent of the Delaware tribe and a volunteer at Schoenbrunn. The sponsors for this year’s Winter Hike were Giant Eagle, United Way, Tuscarawas Valley Family Farm Market, the New Philadelphia VFW and the Tuscarawas VFW.


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