Wegmans Urges Families to Take a Hike
Wegmans Food Markets has joined forces with the Northborough Trails Committee on a “Passport to Family Wellness” program promoting use of the hiking trails in the town of Northborough, Mass. Beginning this fall, people can shop the new Wegmans store at Northborough – the grocer’s first in New England -- or go to the town hall Engineering office to pick up Wegmans Passport to Family Wellness and hit the 30 miles of hiking trails the town offers. Passports will also be available at Northborough Applefest.
The Passport is a small booklet featuring 10 trail maps, each with a brief description of the location and the type of terrain that will be encountered. Additionally, each map bears a small star indicating the location of a trail marker used to emboss the name of the trail in the booklet with a pencil or crayon. Completing four of the 10 trails earns a hiker a Wegmans coupon. If seven trails are completed, the hiker can win the annual grand prize, a $100 Wegmans gift card for a picnic for 20 friends and family members at a pavilion in Ellsworth McAfee Park. The winner will be chosen by random drawing every mid-July.
In 2006, Wegmans began teaming up with towns and counties in its market areas to encourage use of hiking trails, and now supports such programs in 10 communities surrounding its stores. The Rochester, N.Y.-based grocer, which currently operates 77 supermarkets in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland, supplies the passports, the Wegmans coupons and a $100 gift card for each community’s yearly grand-prize drawing.
“One of our five giving priorities is to support programs that encourage healthy eating and activity,” noted Kevin Russell, Wegmans Northborough store manager. “This is a great way to do that and raise awareness about the beautiful trails that already exist in our community. Russell and a team of store associates kicked off the program in Northborough by hiking the Stirrup Brook Trail on Sept. 10. The Northborough store is set to open next month.