Perry High School seniors Desiree Hartz and Haley Vaughn, representing the Fellowship of Christian Activities (FCA) group, addressed the Perry City Council at its regular Monday night meeting. The students informed the council of their plans for staging a Color Turkey Trot 5-kilometer fun run next month.
The provisional date for the fundraiser is Saturday, Nov. 28, Vaughn told the council, the day after the annual Christmas Lighted Parade in downtown Perry.
“If you don’t know what a color fun run is,” Vaughn said, “powder is thrown, and it’s just a big event that we hope to get a lot of families in town involved and FCAs around Iowa.”
A Color Run “is a unique paint race that celebrates healthiness, happiness and individuality,” according to the Color Run website. “Less about your 10-minute mile and more about having the time of your life, the Color Run is a five-kilometer, un-timed race in which thousands of participants, or ‘Color Runners,’ are doused from head to toe in different colors at each kilometer. With only two rules, the idea is easy to follow: Wear white at the starting line, and finish plastered in color.”
“All the money will be donated to a local charity,” Hartz said. “We were thinking the food pantry in town or another to be later decided.” Preregistration for the event would include a T-shirt, she said.
“A lot of this is in process,” Vaughn said. “We’re curious about the route options.” She said Shari Garber, coordinator of the local FCA group at PHS, was hoping the route could start and end at high school.
City Administrator Sven Peterson noted the McCreary Community Building has previously used a route that goes past the high school. He said the route markings might still be visible from a recent run.
“Just work with the police department for road crossings,” Peterson advised the young women, drawing laughs from the council, who knows Vaughn is the daughter of Perry Police Chief Eric Vaughn, who was standing by at the Monday night meeting.
“See if you’ll get the queen to approve it,” Mayor Jay Pattee said, alluding to Hartz’s crowning last week as the 2015 PHS Homecoming queen.
Hartz and Vaughn said further details will be forthcoming as plans take shape.
