One of Dembo Jones’ long-term community partnerships is with the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park and the C&O Canal Trust. Our support of its annual fundraising event helps the Canal Trust not-for-profit organization provide historical programming of the canal and preserve the hundreds of original structures, including locks, lockhouses, and aqueducts that serve as reminders of the canal’s role as a transportation system during the Canal Era.

Dembo Jones was pleased to be a sponsor of The Trust’s annual Park After Dark event on Sunday, September 17. Guests at the historic Great Falls Tavern enjoyed gourmet fare, tasty libations, live music, a campfire under the stars, and insight about the vision for the future of the Park. Each year, Park After Dark raises over $200,000.

We have an additional connection to the Canal and the Trust. Dembo Jones Director Bert Swain is the Treasurer of the C&O Canal Trust Board of Directors. In addition, his family lived at Lockhouse 21 for more than 100 years. After the canal closed in 1924 the family ran a concession stand where they rented boats, canoes and sold refreshments to Canal visitors.

The Park is the eleventh most visited out of 423 parks in the National Park System, welcoming five million visitors each year.