Walk’n Mass Volkssport Club… A Brief history

In 1984 a small group of people met at the Global Walk at Hanscom AFB and decided to form a walking club and call it Walk’n Mass V.C. After the paperwork was completed, they went about designing a logo, the walking stick person. After AVA sanctioned the club a walk event was held on November 2, 1985 in Concord, MA, drawing 342 walkers on a rainy, cold day. Buoyed by this experience, another Concord walk was planned for 1986, and it drew 504 walkers (much better weather)!

As the membership increased to triple digits, in 1989 we held our first bike event in Salem, our first Seasonal Event in Salem and our first multiple event weekend… 4 events, again in Salem. In 1990 we branched out to a cross country ski event in Lincoln, MA, and summer evening events. By the next year we held our first event in Rhode Island, in scenic Newport.

People have come and gone, but Walk’n Mass Volkssport Club is still here … after 25 years.

They say the first 25 years are the hardest, but as Walk ’n Mass Volkssport Club enters its 26th year, we see those first 25 years as a tough act to follow. As time went on, the social side of walking became popular, attracting people who like talking, walking and eating with others who have similar interests. The first walk of spring has become our “Soup Walk,” during summer we have a Club Picnic walk and then there are the “Ice Cream Socials” after a summer evening walk, an “After Holiday” party in January and our most recently added annual tradition, the fall “Pie and Potluck Social” after a walk. The success of these events has shown the popularity of the social side of “volks” events and plans are to expand this aspect in 2011 and future years.

Written in conjunction with club’s 25th anniversary in 2010. Jeanette Dose, club historian at that time, authored.