The 5th Annual Turkey Trot is set to kick off today at 8 a.m. from the Transportation Depot. The Ken Freeman Huff, Puff, then Stuff 5K runs down the Hot Springs Greenway to Hollywood Park and back to the depot.
Event organizers are partnering with Grace Church for a shoe and sock drive to go with the community Thanksgiving meal at the Hot Springs Farmers & Artisans Market after the event. All finishers will receive a medal and a pair of turkey trot socks. Winners will receive a special pumpkin treat.
"It's a great way for families to come out on Thanksgiving Day and have an activity to do together," race co-director Kim McAllister said. "It's a really good time. We'll have some music going. A lot of people will dress up and be very festive for Thanksgiving. We'll see entire families there. It's just a really healthy event. We'll get a lot of people together who are excited and happy to be outside on Thanksgiving Day."
The race briefing begins at 7:45 a.m. and Friends of Parks will have a representative there to do the prayer and thank the sponsors. Local musician Mitchell Lowe will perform the National Anthem on his guitar. Then the race will begin.
The race has drawn nearly 500 participants from 28 different states. The cap was originally 400 runners, but there were so many last-minute applications that they allowed more people to register.
"Ken Freeman, who was a parks and trails employee, started this as a fundraiser in 2019 for Friends of Parks to raise money to donate back into the parks and trails office to help fund building trails in the community," McAllister said. "All the money we raise through the turkey trot goes to the parks and trails funds. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to build trails. When we don't have enough grant money to cover that, we have to make up the difference and this is one of the ways that happens."