Co-mingled with the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies and industry honours, the Monticello-Goshen Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association made their annual donation on Sunday, July 2 to the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame.
Museum executive committee chairman Larry DeVan and executive director Janet Terhune were pleased to accept the donation from chapter president Chris Tully and vice president-treasurer Shawn Wiles.
"We are all very grateful to the local harness writers for their long-standing support and commitment to the Harness Racing Museum,” said Devan.
The annual donation of $4,000 is made possible by the success of the chapter’s year-end awards banquet.
“It is only through the generosity of our loyal advertisers, patrons and local banquet guests that we can continue to support two of the most important and beloved facilities in all of Standardbred sport,” Tully said at the induction ceremonies.
In addition to other efforts, a successful banquet and souvenir journal are the primary fundraising mechanism which allows the benevolent organization to make annual donations to both Goshen Historic Track and the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame, two separate and distinct entities that share the same hallowed ground and a mutual purpose of preserving and promoting harness racing.
The practice of raising money and donating funds to Historic Track and the Hall of Fame began in the mid-1970s with Monticello Raceway publicity icon John Manzi and has continued ever since. In just the last 20 years, the local Monticello-Goshen chapter has donated well over $120,000 to these important industry preservationists.
This year’s Monticello-Goshen USHWA awards banquet will be the chapter’s 64th annual event and is being held at the Wallkill Golf Club on Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023.
(Monticello-Goshen Chapter of USHWA)