MOUNT VERNON — In communities across the country, the weekend after Thanksgiving heralds the arrival of the Christmas season.
Knox County is no different, with merchants offering unique gifts during Shop Small Saturday, the lighting of the tree on Mount Vernon’s Public Square, and the city’s annual holiday parade.
New to the festivities this year is the Ugly Sweater 5K race/walk slated for Sunday at noon. What better way to transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas than by wearing your favorite ugly sweater as you burn off that Thanksgiving turkey and dressing?
Race-day registration begins at 10:30 am at the Chamber of Commerce parking lot on Columbus Road. Strollers and dogs on leash are welcome to join runners and walkers of all ages.
The newly formed Rotary Club of Kokosing Valley is hosting the 5K. Chartered in August with 23 founding members, President Jane Fricke said the new group is “not your grandfather’s Rotary.”
“The current club is a lunch meeting every week at noon. In today’s business world, lunch is not always free and [meeting] every week is difficult,” she explained via email. “We meet monthly for dinner and a program and have plenty of time for projects.
“The people in our club are younger, in the 30-40 age bracket, and the new club always includes spouses and children. It is a different look with dinner timing and only meeting monthly,” she added.
Fricke said that another plus is the moving location each month because it makes the setting interesting each time.
“We have a lot more time for service with this new format Rotary has to offer. It is less expensive to join with one-fourth the cost of the club meals,” she said.
The group does at least one and generally three service projects each month. Since its founding in August, the group has been busy with diverse activities:
•Entered Gambier 4th of July parade
•Hosted a Red Cross Blood drive
•Displayed a disaster relief family tent
•Trick-or-treated in costume in front of United Way
•Gathered socks for homeless shelter
•Made cards and gave flowers to residential living facility veterans
•Paid for a cow through Families in Africa
•Gave money to Polio Plus
•Sponsored Adopt a Highway (4 miles)
In addition to the Ugly Sweater 5K on Sunday, activities in the next few weeks include participating in the Mount Vernon Christmas Parade and Christmas Walk in Fredericktown and hosting a Red Cross Blood drive.
“For a new little club, they are running a good pace,” Fricke said.
The group meets the third Thursday of the month at 6 pm followed by dinner at 6:30. For more information and the location of its monthly meeting, check the Facebook page Kokosing Valley Rotary or text 749-507-4044.
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