Valley Forge Historical Park receives $55,000 donation

Source, Bucks County Courier Times, Gabby Houck

Valley Forge National Historical Park in King of Prussia was awarded a $55,000 donation on behalf of the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board. This is the board’s largest donation to the park to date.

The Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board is a nonprofit, membership-based sales and marketing organization that actively promotes the Valley Forge area and Montgomery County.

“Valley Forge National Historical Park is one of the region’s most visited destinations and we are thrilled to present our largest-ever donation of Rev Run funds to help support key programming and improvement projects here,” said Board President and CEO Mike Bowman in a news release.

The board’s donation was given through funds raised from this year’s 13th annual Rev Run back in April. The Rev Run is a 5k race that takes place in the park. Since it began in 2006 the run has raised more than $400,000 for the park to help enhance visitor experience.

This year’s funds will help support future maintenance needs of Sullivan’s Bridge, the new pedestrian span over the Schuylkill River, and a grand parade trail project. Along with the donation, the park is receiving something else, a comic book.

The board gave the comic book titled “Patriot Tales” its debut during the donation announcement. The comic will be the first of a series and will highlight history that’s happened at the park while engaging young readers and promoting the board’s history brand, Patriot Trails.

The comic book will include the tale of two kids who travel back in time to meet George Washington while embarking on an adventure to discover the rich history of the park. The comic will also include puzzles to educate children on historical facts.

The comic will be distributed to different community libraries, elementary schools, over 75 hotels and at the convention board’s traveling kiosk at events. It can also be downloaded at Patriot Trails website.

“This comic book brings our rich history to life in a fun way for a whole new generation of Montgomery County visitors and residents,” said Edward Harris, the board’s chief marketing officer in a news release. ” … We wanted to find a different way of connecting with families to discover and explore the story of our historic heroes, make them come to life, and hopefully drive more traffic to the park and our other historic sites.”

Along with rich history, the park also has a significant economic impact in the region, with 2017 bringing over 2 million visitors, $46.5 million in economic output, and 426 jobs to the local economy.