Color run attracts 440 participants
<p><strong>Suzette Wilke</strong> of Redwood City, Calif., leads a bridal party in the Great Fish 5K Color Run on Saturday. (Matt Baldwin/Whitefish Pilot)</p>
More than 440 runners signed up to walk or run in the Whitefish Community Foundation’s Great Fish 5K Color Run and Fair on Sept. 12.
Thirty-two nonprofit organizations were represented at the nonprofit fair with interactive displays highlighting their programs and services. The nonprofits have raised more than $750,000 so far in the challenge that will end at midnight on Friday, Sept. 18.
The nonprofits will receive their designated donations made through the Great Fish Challenge and their matching grant from the foundation on Wednesday, Oct. 7, during a public event at Casey’s.
The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. when the foundation will announce the total raised during the challenge and the amount of the percentage match.
“The Fun Run was an amazing turnout out of community support,” Foundation Director Linda Engh-Grady said. “With all the events happening around the valley on the same day, we never expected such a large turnout for a new event.”
Top finishing runners in the competitive division were rewarded with bonus grants to the charity they were running for. Glacier Institute was awarded the bonus points for the best interactive booth display.
North Valley Hospital Foundation won the bonus grant of $1,000 for the highest number of donations received between Sept. 1 and 10. Whitefish Theatre Company also received a bonus grant of $1,000 for the most donations during this same time period. Additional bonus grants will be handed out Oct. 7.
For more information about the Great Fish Community Challenge, call 863-1781 or visit www.greatfishchallenge.org.