Take a Walk on the Garbage Trail

ARLO GUTHRIE’S SIX-MILE WALK TO FIND A CURE FOR HUNTINGTON’S DISEASE ENTERS ITS 25TH YEAR 

By Michael Borden

Photos By Gregory Cherin 

It’s 8:30 a.m. on a gentle spring morning in May, and hundreds of folks from near and far are beginning to gather at the Guthrie Center in Housatonic as they have for the last 25 years to walk Arlo Guthrie’s Historic Garbage Trail for Huntington’s Disease. As serious as the mission is, the atmosphere is playful and electric. Once again, it promises to be a day full of food, fun, nostalgia, music, and costumes culminating in a concert at the Guthrie Center that Arlo himself has been known to take part in. 

Scenes from 2024's Garbage Trail Walk, clockwise from top left: The original Alice’s Restaurant (now Theresa’s Stockbridge Cafe). In the police car is Laura Atchley, with Stockbridge Police Sgt. Kirk Nichols. Volunteers Michelle Brown and Mike Babin dance to live music by the old town dump. The pickle ladies are Loretta Murphy and her daughter Bridget Williams. This year’s walk is on Sunday, May 18.

“The walk is done in May because it’s National Huntington Disease Month,” says Jimmy Pollard, one of the event’s longtime organizers who has helped bring the walk to life since its inception at the turn of the millennium. It doesn’t hurt that the weather is usually beautiful, although Pollard guesses there would be just as committed a turnout if the walk were in January. This year’s walk is on Sunday, May 18, and begins at 10 a.m. 

“These are amazing folks proving year after year that doing good can make for a good old time,” Pollard says. The 6.3-mile fundraising walk-—which visits sites made famous in Guthrie’s perennial holiday favorite, Alice’s Restaurant Massacree—raises tens of thousands of dollars every year toward a cure for the inherited condition that afflicted Arlo’s dad, Woody Guthrie, as well as the approximately 30,000 Americans with Huntington’s Disease (HD). Another 200,000 are at risk of inheriting the devastating and fatal hereditary disorder that strikes in the prime of life. 

“The HD Walk has always been a mixture of fun, fundraising, community service, and more,” says Arlo. “Huntington's Disease has been part of our family history, and the walk raises much needed finances to support families and friends with a similar history. The work to find a cure was begun by my mother, Marjorie Guthrie, and continues to this day. We’re just trying to do our part.” 

At the Guthrie Center on the day of the walk, a fleet of vintage VW microbuses ferries participants to Main Street in Stockbridge. First stop on the walk: Alice’s Restaurant, of name and fame. The original spot is now owned by Joe and Theresa Sonsini, who run the adjacent Main Street Cafe and have hosted a free buffet breakfast for the walkers since the fundraiser began. 

Alice Brock’s original store, located behind Main Street Cafe, was renamed Theresa’s Stockbridge Cafe. “It’s not really an operating business,” says Theresa, “but we have a lot of the original furnishings on display, and it’s a kick for people to wander through and see them after a hearty breakfast preparing them for the six-mile hike.” 

So, what kind of folks participate? According to Pollard, there are three main groups. “The first is HD families and their friends and relatives who have a personal stake in the fundraising efforts,” he says. They make up about a third of the walkers. “Then there’s the Blunderites,” he continues, explaining that it’s what Arlo Guthrie fans are called, a reference to Guthrie’s song The Pause of Mr. Claus, in which he describes his followers as belonging to the “Great Blunder Movement.” Blunderites make up another third of the walkers. The final third is composed of Berkshire locals who have supported the cause over the years or have heard about it and are on their first walk.

Get yourself “arrested” for littering

From Alice’s Restaurant, it’s a hop, skip and a jump to Town Hall, where on a cold Thanksgiving Day in 1965, 18-year old Arlo and his buddy Rick stood in front of Judge James Hannon, who was legally blind and had little appreciation for the "27 8x10, colored glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one" that Stockbridge Police Chief William J. Obanhein, forever immortalized as “Officer Obie,” had meticulously put together as evidence. Obie was known for having a sense of humor about the whole incident, a spirit of fun that extends to the present day Police Chief Darrell Fennelly and seems to be part of the job description. All the police chiefs, beginning with Obie, have participated in the fundraising efforts. “Chief Rick Wilcox was the one who unscrewed the original jail door from its hinges and presented it to the Guthrie Center as a souvenir when the walk first started,” says Pollard. 

These days, you can get your picture taken in front of the jail doors for instant street cred. “The chief brings an awesome spirit to the event,” adds Pollard. “He parks his squad car right outside Town Hall and hands out doughnuts. If you’d like, you can also get ‘arrested’ like Arlo did, get your photo taken in the back of the police car, and even have your fingerprints taken. For some reason, it’s become very popular to have your photo taken being put into the back of the squad car, the chief’s hand pressing your head down like you see on TV.” 

Stop number three along the trail is the Stockbridge town dump which was—and still remains—closed on Thanksgiving Day, even in its present incarnation as the upgraded Stockbridge Transfer Station. More than “just a half mile from the railroad tracks” (it’s technically a mile), it may be the only waste and recycling center in the United States that’s also a tourist attraction. Here, during the walk, you’re likely to find dozens of musicians playing Woody Guthrie songs, handing out love beads, and really cranking up the vibe. 

Next stop is ice cream, courtesy of Miles Concannon, who’s been scooping out Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia to walk participants for decades. Though not afflicted himself, Concannon is part of the HD family tier mentioned earlier. “We’ve lost family members to the disease, so for us, it’s personal,” he says. “God bless the Guthries for continuing to care. Our whole family comes out for the festivities every year. It’s always a great time. We’re especially looking forward to this year, as it’s the 25th anniversary of the walk.”

Meet The Pickle Lady

You can’t miss her. She’s the woman in the booth dressed as a pickle, playing guitar and ukulele, and handing out free pickles to commemorate the snack Arlo got after being “injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected” at his army induction center. The woman behind the costume is Loretta Murphy, who makes the trip each year from Pennsylvania to play her songs and make the walk that much more enjoyable for Guthrie fans and pickle lovers alike. A nurse by training, Murphy became familiar with HD patients in the back wards of the hospitals she used to work at. “The walk is a great event for an even greater cause,” she says. “I got into this not knowing anybody but have made lifelong friends with the organizers and the Guthries over the years.” She’s going on 12 years of doling out pickles. “The first year, I couldn’t find a pickle costume,” says Murphy, “so I was dressed up as a jar of pickle relish.” The pickle suit she now wears helps make her booth a fun and memorable stop on the walk. 

From The Pickle Lady, it’s on to the old Stockbridge Railroad Depot. Members of the Guthrie family cheerfully hand out water and swag before sending walkers on their way to what is the longest part of the walk: the trek up to the present day AmeriGas Propane Office in Housatonic, where there’s even more swag and refreshments for the walkers, many of whom are a bit pooped at this point. It’s a good resting place for the weary before heading back down Van Deusenville Road and returning to the final stop on the tour—to The Guthrie Center, formerly the Old Trinity Church and once Alice’s home. It is the epicenter of Alice’s Restaurant Massacree and where the subsequent film was shot. Since 1991, it has been a location for interfaith worship, music and art, and a place to eat. There is sure to be live music at The Guthrie Center at the end of this year’s HD Walk. 

“There’s a venerable group of speedwalkers who go for the bragging rights of finishing the walk the fastest,” Pollard explains. “Others may straggle along. And the microbuses are always available to take anyone back to The Guthrie Center if they’re too tired to hoof it there themselves.”

A quarter century of fundraising and fun

Along with all the fun, serious progress has been made, thanks in part to this annual fundraising event. “They’ve come a long way during the last 50 years,” says Arlo. “They’re closer to a cure, but not close enough. As long as they’re able to keep working toward one, we’ll be there to support the efforts. Meanwhile, we have to help family and friends who are dealing with Huntington’s. So, we do the walk.” 

A special exhibition at The Guthrie Center, “Arlo Guthrie—All Over the World,” will highlight Arlo’s participation in world events throughout his career. 

Arlo Guthrie at the steps of The Guthrie Center with his daughter in-law Lisa Guthrie. 

This year’s Garbage Trail Walk promises to be bigger than ever. “Once upon a time at The Guthrie Center, a young woman from a local care center living with Huntington’s Disease, asked, ‘Why isn’t there a pledge walk for Huntington’s?’” says Lisa Guthrie, Arlo’s daughter-in-law. “Twenty-five years later, the Guthries are still showing the way to combine a good time with doing good in the search for a cure.” 

As for Alice? “Alice’s passing was like the end of an era.” says Arlo.” You had to be there to understand. She took a little piece of everyone who knew her when she passed away.” And yet, she lives on, if not just for the 18 minutes and 27 seconds of the iconic song named after the restaurant, but every beautiful day in May when folks gather in the Berkshires to walk for a cure that begins at a church where she once called home.

Interested in participating in this year’s 25th anniversary Arlo Guthrie’s Historic Garbage Trail Walk? For more information and to print out a sponsor form, go to garbagetrailwalk.org. Then just show up at The Guthrie Center on the morning of Sunday, May 18. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the walk starts at 10 a.m. Jimmy Pollard will sign you up and get you onto a microbus for this unique yearly combination of nostalgia and hope for the future.