Community Comes Out for YMCA 5K and Boo-tacular

The crisp and breezy Marco morning on Saturday, October 25, warmed nicely to welcome everyone to the Marco Island YMCA’s Annual 5k and Fun Run, Open House, and Boo-tacular. The race, which began at the Y’s Airnasium, brought travelers down residential streets, past neighbors, toward the Mackle Park South Side Lake Loop via Heathwood and Andalusia, and back from Leland and Sand Hill, to reunite with those waiting and cheering from a community site that has held strong for close to fifty years. Henry Newlin came in with the fastest time of the day at 18:09.5.

The money raised from the weekend’s event will go toward supporting the YMCA’s healthy living programs, which include all the Y’s wellness initiatives, which, as Reilly Smith, the Collier County YMCA program director explains, include, “individual and group fitness programs; chronic disease programming, such as Parkinson’s; and additional older adult programs that our Y is planning to implement.” She went on to state that “the financial support from this event allows us to continue these programs and expand, based on the community’s needs.”

YMCA staff and local sponsors are vital to the event along with support from individuals and families on this day of fun! Debbie Rosen, YMCA of Collier County, South Campus, Aquatics and Wellness Director and 5k manager, noted that in total, there were “170 participants, including adult runners, walkers, and kids,” which was the most that the Marco Y has seen in their four years hosting the event. Of many of these attendees, full of spirit after finishing the 3.1-mile course, were Mary Ann Harlacker, a previous competitive triathlete, and Susan and Gary Hieftje, recreational joggers and walkers. Gary and Susan enjoyed many good moments in previous years at Indiana’s Bloomington Y, and on this day, gathered at the Marco Y, further bridging their support. So eager were all three to connect the community with good causes that they proudly displayed their 5k T-shirts afterward at the Marco Island Yacht Club.

Such a full event in and of itself was the 5k and Fun Run but afterward, the combined Open House and Boo-tacular festivities followed. The Open House started with a Family Drums class, led by fitness instructor Kathy Kurtz. Kurtz teaches a sizable number of classes at the Marco Island YMCA; her class taught that day, Drums!, is usually held on the third Saturday of the month, and is sure to test one’s “coordination skills, brain power, [and] flexibility,” while also providing stress relief, as noted on the Drums! description in the YMCA of Collier County website.

The Boo-tacular, held in the Marco YMCA Youth Center, hosted food, games, and smiles with Stewie the Duck, a mascot of Water Smart Collier, an organization dedicated to “working to keep children safe and healthy” by “[improving] health outcomes and prevent[ing] Injuries among children (0-18 years of age) within Collier County” while also “[facilitating] and [implementing] programs to combat childhood obesity, prevent childhood drowning and reduce SIDS.” Just outside, Maria Gal, YMCA of Collier County’s Education and Civic Director, was present promoting her three education programs: Yreads (an after-school literacy support program); Collier County Public Schools’ New Worlds Reading Initiative workshops; and the YMCA Youth in Government program, present and still accepting students at Marco Island Charter Middle School.

The Marco Island YMCA 5k, Open House, and Boo-tacular were an enjoyable event for all - so many have been touched by the generosity of the YMCA, and usually in ways they do not realize. The Marco Island YMCA, thanks to the support of so many, will continue to expand its reach, catering to the changing needs of its residents and visitors—its arms stretched to the horizon, held strong by participants of its Annual 5k, Open House, and Boo-tacular, like Harlacker and the Hieftjes, carrying the joy of the morning’s festivities toward their next destination.

Special thanks to these sponsors: Brown and Brown Insurance, Carvelli Restaurant Group, Island Tower Dentistry, Margo Golf and Garden, Patchington’s, The Needles Group, Tenney Law, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Sunshine Infinitee, Truvidity Labs, George Wilhelm and Bob and Barb Chrystal.