Every year in October a local festival called the Maple Leaf Festival takes place, the festival hosts many events and one of those events is the Maple Leaf Run, this year the 46th annual Maple Leaf Run will take place, including many age groups from 8 and under in the kids 1-mile race to 60 and over in the 5k race.
“I’ve always told myself I want to do stuff to give back to the community and I think Maple Leaf Festival is a huge part of our community and so it’s a way I can contribute to an event and keep its condition strong,” said Kit Harris, the organizer of the event and a teacher at BHS.
Whether it be coaching high school wrestling, college wrestling, or teaching students, Harris has always been serious about helping his community and spreading his knowledge of wrestling, journalism and more.
“It’s a lot of work but I enjoy it [managing the run] because it’s fun,” Harris said, “and again it helps contribute to something I think is important, which is the festival, it also helps bring people to Baldwin City for the festival.”
The main reason the maple leaf festival exists is because people came together wanting to experience our community and our history.
“The whole point of the festival is to just have as many different events as possible, from food, music, shopping, parades, and activities to bring people to Baldwin to experience our community,” Harris said.
Baldwin’s Maple Leaf Run is a great way for kids, parents, or senior citizens to experience the culture of Baldwin and to see the community come together to compete in a wholesome race without bad sportsmanship or over competitiveness.
“We have a great cross country course, we have a tradition of this race going on for almost 50 years, and I would hate to see it ever stop happening,” Harris said.
According to Harris, the Maple Leaf Run is perfectly fine with the amount of people that show up and participate.
“I don’t think I would add much to the run, it would be cool to add an awards system but with everything else going on after the race I think that the race should stay as is,” Harris said.
The Maple Leaf Run will forever be a part of our history and culture, and in the meanwhile it is another way for the community to connect while at the Maple Leaf Festival.