It’s race week here in Greenwood, and we’re counting down the days now until Saturday’s Viking Half Marathon & 5K run.
We’re so excited for this third annual event, and we want to make sure the community knows a few things about what’s going on and how you can help:
• We have a few hundred guests coming to town Friday and Saturday, so let’s roll out the red carpet! How can we do that? Show our hospitality by being friendly, helpful and welcoming. Let’s clean up our yards, neighborhoods and streets so that folks will be left with a good impression of our community. They’ll come back.
• Not a runner? No problem! You can be involved by forming a spirit group and showing your community spirit. It only takes a minimum of 5 people to make up a spirit group — of course, more is better. If you register your spirit group on the Viking Half Marathon website, you’ll be judged Saturday morning for your spirit, creativity and energy. You could win one of three cash prizes. Now that’s incentive for getting up and getting out! Call us, and we can help you locate a spot on the race route for your group to set up, or you can select your own cheering site. You can see the race route map at the website, www.vikinghalfmarathon.com. The purpose of this is to show support for our runners. It’s tough to run 13.1 or even three miles, so they need a cheering section all along the way.
• Be a volunteer. We still need volunteers, so if you’d like to help out, call the chamber at 453-4152. We’ll find a place for you.
A big thanks goes out once again to our sponsors of this event: Viking Range Corp., Cannon Motor Company of Mississippi, Capital City Beverage, Wade Inc., Greenwood Leflore Hospital, Crystal Health and Rehabilitation, Double Quick, Webster’s, The Fresh Laundry, Hampton Inn of Greenwood, Pure Air, Provine Helicopter, Milwaukee Tool Corp., Sta-Home Health, The Whole Foods Store, Mississippi Valley State University, the city of Greenwood, the Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau, Greenwood Coca-Cola, Larry’s Fish House, Domino’s Pizza, Sonic, Honest Abe’s and the Mississippi State Tourism office.
It’s important to remember that events like these would not be possible without the support of our sponsors, so we can’t thank them enough!
On another note, we are now taking applications for our 2014-2015 YELL youth leadership program. Each of our area high schools has been sent the information and applications, and students who are interested in applying for this free program may see their school counselor to get an application.
If you know of a student who will be a high school junior next year, please encourage them to apply for the program. We spend a year developing the leadership and team-building skills of these students, which is so critical for their development. We want them to grow up to be community leaders, so we’re glad to be a part of helping them to grow into who they will become as adults.
The deadline to submit an application for YELL is May 15. Students may turn in their applications to the school counselor or they may submit them to the chamber directly.
• Beth Stevens is the executive director of the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce. Contact her at info@greenwoodms.com.
