BELCHERTOWN — Run, walk or roll over to Foley Field on Saturday for the first Lake Wallace Fall Fest, which explores a new mile of accessible trails along Belchertown’s natural lands.
The festival at 66 State St. takes off at 9 a.m. with a 5K run through the completed Lake Wallace Sensory Trail. At 10 a.m., those tempted to try trail racing can partake in a one-mile fun run around the new section of trails. Then, event organizers will commemorate the new trails with a ribbon-cutting at 10:30 a.m., followed by a “roll and stroll” for all physical abilities to enjoy Lake Wallace.
“It’s really meant to be a fun experience and show people a different aspect of recreation that you can do in the woods,” Lake Wallace Fall Fest Coordinator Sarah Maroney said. “And for runners, it’s to show a different form of running.”
After finishing their races and strolls, 32 food vendors, community organizations and local artisans will offer festivalgoers plenty to keep busy. Better Together Dog Rescue will have rescue dogs on site, the Belchertown Family Center will host a Halloween costume swap and several food trucks and local bakeries will offer eats while local bands like Ultraviolet play in the background.
“This is an opportunity for the community to celebrate this little gem that’s right in the center of town,” Friends of Lake Wallace President Louise Levy said. “And for me as a science teacher, my goal has always been to get people outside and get familiar and comfortable exploring the outdoors.”
Runners and walkers who enjoy the trail may feel inspired to “adopt” a section of the trail, Levy said. Right now, a group of 15 volunteers maintain the entire trail with no budget, spending hours clearing organic matter off the gravel trails and trimming back plants creeping onto the trail. The adopt-a-trail program volunteers naturalists, families or even scout troops to visit their trail area three to five times a season for light maintenance.
“Lake Wallace Sensory Trail is a fully grant funded and voluntarily maintained trail, so it has no budget for anything that cannot be funded by a grant, which is basically never maintenance or repairs,” Levy said.
What is Lake Wallace?
Tucked behind the Police Department and Recreation Department, Lake Wallace and Foley Field were once part of the Belchertown State School campus. The Belchertown Economic Industrial Corporation donated the 66 acres of land to the school district in 2009. Lake Wallace has been a living laboratory for students to learn biodiversity surveys and scientific observation. Foley Field became an area for students to practice sports or gaze at the stars.
The growing popularity of the natural area sparked efforts to develop 2.5 miles of accessible trails along the lake. The first 1.5 miles opened in 2023, along with an observation deck that looks out into the lake. The remaining mile will open on Oct. 4 at the fall festival.
“The idea was that if there was a great trail near Lake Wallace, that it would make the entire former Belchertown State School more attractive to businesses thinking about relocating in the area,” Levy said. “I like to think it was a major attraction to Christopher Heights because they are just a few hundred yards away from the lake.”
An unexpected festival
As it came near time to open the trails, the Belchertown Creative Economy wanted to unveil a wooden pavilion “pocket park” and new metal sculpture of a great blue heron created by Hercworx. Maroney and her husband Brian Maroney typically practice trail racing along Foley Field and Lake Wallace.
“So all of us talked about different things that we wanted to do in the area and realized that all these items lined up within the same time period,” Maroney said. “It was thrown out there that we should just throw a Lake Wallace Fall Fest, then we realized it was a good idea.”
The festival serves not only as a celebration, but also as a fundraiser for the new Lake Wallace gift account. The account hosted by the Recreation Department would mean Levy would no longer need to purchase sandpaper from her own pocket to remove graffiti from the poles or leave fallen panels on the observation deck untouched.
“Right from the very beginning, in a space that was not well trafficked, overenergetic and underoccupied youth found ways to damage the trail,” Levy said. “We want to raise some funds so that we have enough in the Lake Wallace gift account so that any maintenance and repair issues do not fall on the town agencies.”
However, none of the parties invovled thought that within a month, over 50 people would sign up for the race and over 30 community groups would apply to table at the event.
“This was really a group of volunteering running with an idea to create an event and really making it happen,” Maroney said.