Union Tradeswomen Go On Hike At Great Falls Park To Start Conference

GREAT FALLS, VA — Great Falls Park hosted the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance All-Women’s Hike last Friday, an event that kicked off the 13th Annual Tradeswomen Build Nations Conference, the largest gathering of tradeswomen in the world.

More than 130 union tradeswomen from the U.S., Canada and Denmark participated in the Dec. 1 event at Great Falls Park. The participants loaded on buses, sponsored by the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Mason’s International Association in Washington, D.C., Friday morning and headed to the park for the hike on the river trail.

The women who participated in the hike represented 13 different unions — cement masons, electrical workers, insulators, ironworkers, painters, carpenters, laborers, plumbers and pipefitters, bricklayers, machinists, elevator constructors, operating engineers, and sheet metal workers.

“These women are breaking barriers and paving the way for other women in the trades,” Union Sportsmen’s Alliance Communications Manager Kate Nation said. “They are just the type of women we need to inspire the next generation, especially young girls, to pursue outdoor sports like hiking, fishing, hunting, and camping and put their skills and knowledge to work for conservation.”

The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, a union-dedicated nonprofit group whose members hunt, fish and shoot, said registration for the hike at Great Falls Park filled up so quickly that it had to reserve a third bus and order additional gift bags for the participants.