TVTA Dedicates Blaisdell-Emery Trail;
Honors Partners at Recognition Dinner
By SANDRA RHODES The Tuna Valley Trail Association (TVTA) has blazed a new trail. The TVTA dedicated its new trail – the Blaisdell-Emery Trail – during the first-ever recognition dinner Wednesday night at the Masonic Center on South Avenue. The evening started with a guided hike from Lewis Run to the trailhead at Owens Way. This was followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The 3.8-mile trail, which runs from the Penn Brad Oil Museum to the Keystone Powdered Metal plant in Lewis Run, pays homage to two men who blazed their own trails and left an indelible mark on Bradford in their own right. TVTA president Rick Esch described how both men made in impact on the community. George G. Blaisdell, inventor of the Zippo lighter, came from humble beginnings and struggled in the early part of his life. He later created an American icon and left a legacy of charity along the way. “He was very generous to the community,” Esch said. That generosity continues today with the Philo and Sarah Blaisdell F...