The Fort Town Night Run Celebrates Star Wars for its Final Event

Prescott – After 8 years and over 1700 runners raising over $40 000 for local charities, the Fort Town Night Run will hold its final event on May 4th, 2024 in Prescott.

For the final year of the Run, it once again falls on May 4th, so since the Start Wars theme was so popular in the past, the organizers decided to embrace it once again. Along with the races, there will be Star Wars reenactors, costume contests, food vendors, and music by Mystery Machine DJ Service.

This year, the Kids 1K Fun Run will have 4 age categories and distances: 5 & under run 50 m, 6-7 run 100 m, 8-9 run 200 m, and 10-13 years old have a 1 km route around the perimeter of Fort Wellington property. Youth participants all receive a medal and there are prizes for the first place finisher.

There will be a 5k Walk/Run, a 10K and a 15K Run. The 15K leaves the Leo Boivin Community Centre at 8:00 pm, the 10K at 8:10 pm, and the 5K at 8:20 pm and all runs follow scenic and historic loop around Prescott, including the Heritage Waterfront Trail, Riverwalk Park, Centennial Park, and about 40 heritage houses and landmarks in town. The registration deadline to guarantee a t-shirt is April 8. There are prizes for the top finishers in the above 18+ year old and 17 and below categories. There are also incredible door prizes for runners.

To register, visit www.forttownnightrun.com.

As always, it takes an army of volunteers on the night of May 4th to ensure a safe and fun event for everyone. Students can earn Volunteer Hours for school, and adults can choose a local youth charity to support by volunteering. For more info, contact ftnrvolcoord@gmail.com.

The community is welcome to enjoy the festivities at the Leo Boivin Community Centre and cheer on the runners. Runners are welcome to dress up for the theme. The team with the best costumes and energy will win the Team Spirit Award. Houses and businesses along the race route are encouraged to deck their homes with lights, encouraging messages, and Star Wars decorations to qualify for the Neon Spirit Award and Business Spirit Award. For more information, visit www.forttownnightrun.com

History of the Fort Town Night Run:

The event began in 2017 as a fundraiser for the SKBP Venturers, a group of older teens in Scouts Canada who were planning a trip to Iceland. In 2016, a Scouter and parent, both enthusiastic runners at the time, envisioned a 5k fundraiser in Prescott. Meanwhile, another parent had a fateful rainy-day chat with staff at Fort Wellington, Prescott, who mentioned they were looking for events that the Fort could host to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary.

The ideas gelled together, and planning began to host an evening fundraising run on the first Saturday of May, 2017, beginning and ending at Fort Wellington. A 5k walk/run went along the waterfront and through the streets of Prescott, while a 10K route went along Highway 2 toward the Battle for the Windmill Site before returning to rejoin the 5k route.

The OPP directed traffic along Highway 2, while the Town of Prescott and several companies donated time and resources. Most of the volunteers were families and friends associated with the Venturers. While it poured rain all day during set up, the rain cleared up for the run and it was a success, with 200 runners raising $3000 for the Venturers.

The organizers of the FTNR decided to apply as an official charity, to help with donations, related fundraising such as raffles, and to donate to more local programs. They created the Greater Fort Town Area Charity with several trustees and continued to plan and expand the FTNR activities. The focus of GFTAC activities is to support youth programs that enhance physical and mental well-being within the Leeds and Grenville area.

The Run returned in 2018. That year it celebrated the 180th anniversary of the Battle of the Windmill site, and the night of the Run the lighthouse there was lit for the first time in many years. They also added a 1K Kids Fun Run, which ran the perimeter of Fort Wellington’s property. That year, they had 48 in the Kids Fun Run and 200 Night Runners, raising $9000.

On the third year, in 2019, the first Saturday happened to be May the 4th, also known as International Star Wars Day. The organizers decided to make that the theme of the Run that year, capitalizing on Fort Wellington’s name with “May the Fort Be With You.” Reenactors came down from Ottawa and many of the participants ran in elaborate Star Wars costumes. The organizers also invested in FRED lights, portable puck lights that lined the course to give direction to the runners, especially along darker paths. It was the biggest run in the race’s history, with 400 participants who raised $10500. That year, volunteers came from several different Scouts Canada Groups in the area, and the funds were distributed to the groups that had assisted in volunteering.

In the fall of 2019, as part of the GFTAC commitment to helping local youth, it started a free learn-to-run program that incorporated physical activity, nutrition and mental health strategies. The FTNR also planned its first mini twilight fun run, a Zombie Run as a fundraiser for the South Grenville Food Bank, along the Prescott Heritage Waterfront Trail, as part of the Zombie Walk activities in Prescott on October 19. As well, the organizers of the FTNR developed a Safety Plan for the run. This is something that many large urban runs with paid staff had to have as a matter of course, but was virtually unheard of for small-town races. This Safety Plan has since been adopted by many other small runs in Ontario.

Meanwhile, the trustees planned a Steampunk-themed Run for May of 2020, including a Steampunk Festival on the day of the Run assisted by local Steampunk enthusiasts, and adding a 15k course that would see the runners have unprecedented access to run through the Port of Johnstown. They acquired lit lantern flags, sponsored by local businesses, to mark the kilometer markers along the routes.

Unfortunately, by the spring of 2020, COVID-19 had shut down all community events, and the GFTAC trustees had to postpone the race that year. They decided to hold it at the end of September that year, call it “Prescott: Running Strong,” and modified the safety plan to create a race that would incorporate social distancing. This unique race involved online-only registration, staggering the runners throughout the day and evening, with no more than 2 runners starting at a time, and 3 shifts of volunteers manning the intersections. The modified plan for the 2020 run was approved by the local Health Unit and the Town of Prescott. Unfortunately, an increase in COVID cases in mid-September led to the Town and Health Unit deciding no runners from outside Leeds and Grenville would be permitted on the run. Since 75% of those registered were from out of town, the trustees decided to convert the event to a virtual-only run.

The organizers filmed the entire course by bicycle so that those registered could still see all of Prescott’s beauty, and encouraged the runners to do the run in their home communities and submit photos for the Spirit Awards. The organizers also personally did over 200 porch drop-offs of swag bags, medals and t-shirts throughout eastern Ontario and western Quebec, mailing those that were further away.

That year’s virtual run raised $9100, donated to the various charities represented by those who had offered to volunteer on the Run day. The Greater Fort Town Area Charity did receive a great bit of news in November 2020, when CRA approved them as an officially designated charity.

In 2021, community events were still greatly limited in some areas. The township of Edwardsburg/Cardinal encouraged the FTNR to hold an event in their region. The GFTAC accepted the invitation of the Port of Johnstown to hold a small run on their property. Called the Twilight Fun Run, the event had limited registration to keep the numbers small, and the closed course meant fewer volunteers were needed. The 5k route around the Port of Johnstown was the first race many participants had run in over a year, and the gratitude was very deep. That year, 68 runners raised $240.

The Youth Movement Project, which had to pause in 2020, resumed in the fall of 2021. The program has been running in the fall, winter and spring each year since then, and has reached over 200 youth in the community. It has evolved from a running program into one that introduces youth to a variety of sports, welcomes guest coaches, provides nutritious snacks, and discusses mental health strategies. Every session still begins with some running, and participants are offered the opportunity to join in the May run each year.

In 2022 the Fort Town Night Run planned to revisit the Steampunk theme. The GFTAC trustees were informed that there were COVID-related delays with permits for using Fort Wellington. Therefore, the Run returned to the Port of Johnstown in May with the Kids Fun Run, a 5k around the Port, a 10K to the Prescott Waterfront Trail, and a 15K that went through Prescott and returned to the Port. 220 runners participated and raised $3000. The Steampunk Festival took place in July at the Windmill Brewery in Johnstown, with entertainers, vendors, games, contests and incredible costumes.

The Fort Town Night Run returned to Prescott in 2023. The theme was “Prescott: A Community with Heart” and it was based at the Leo Boivin Community Centre, which for decades has been the heart of community activities in Prescott. It included the Kids Fun Run and a 5K course that stayed within the town of Prescott. That year, 225 participants raised $8910.

In addition to the Venturers and Scouts, some other local charities that have sent volunteers to the Run and received donations include the Air Cadets, Sea Cadets, Skate Brockville, and Connect Youth. For all these years, the Fort Town Night Run, Greater Fort Town Area Charity and Youth Movement Program have been entirely run by volunteers who all have additional full-time jobs. It takes hundreds of hours a year to plan and put on the Run. Over the years, life circumstances have changed and the organizers are no longer in a position to continue to dedicate the time and resources necessary.