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Sep. 30, 2010
Local athletes Tom Wallisch and Casey Eichfeld have been selected as the Grand Marshals of Garrett County’s 43rd annual Autumn Glory Festival Grand Feature Parade on Saturday, Oct. 9, beginning at 1 p.m.
Natives of Pittsburgh, Wallisch’s parents, Mike and Patty Wallisch, have owned a second home in Garrett County since 1989. Wisp Resort was their home ski resort and Wallisch was a member of the Deep Creek Winter Sports Team.
Presently in college at the University of Utah, he is now a professional freestyle skier based out of Salt Lake City. Considered one of the country’s top park skiers, he has won major slope-style events from the Winter Dew Tour to the Dumont Cup to the European X Games. ESPN named him one of the ski industry’s Most Innovative Thinkers in 2010.
In a recent half-hour FuelTV FirstHand episode, Wallisch talks about his skiing, and extensively about Garrett County, Wisp Resort, and the Deep Creek Lake area.
Wallisch returns to Wisp every May to participate in the Tom Wallisch Memorial Day Weekend Rail Jam. He is sponsored by Monster Energy Drink, Verizon, Scott, Sweet Protection Helmets, Full Tilt (which produces Tom Wallisch Hot Dogger Boots), Skull Candy Headphones, and the North Face. He currently films DVDs with Level 1 Productions, Field Productions and 4bi9 Media.
A 2008 Whitewater Slalom Olympian, Casey Eichfeld started paddling with his dad in whitewater at the age of 18 months. At the age of 8, he was the youngest National Slalom Cadet Team member and the youngest solo competitor at a U.S. Whitewater Slalom Nationals.
