Turkey Trot, Veteran’s Day parade among other events slated to return to Buckhannon this autumn

BUCKHANNON – The Buckhannon Consolidated Public Works Board approved three upcoming events for October and November.

The CPWB approved a Turkey Trot 5k for Thanksgiving Day; a recovery and mental health awareness event Oct. 14; and the annual Veterans Day Parade Nov. 11.

Lacy Ramsey, a representative with the Upshur County Recreational Complex group, said members are hoping to have the Turkey Trot to help raise money for the Recreational Complex.

“We are hoping to be able to do our Turkey Trot again this year, it will run from 8 a.m. to 1p.m., and we are requesting to have the stretch of road by Jawbone Park from Main Street and Madison Street closed off so we can use that for the lineup, start and finish line,” Ramsey said. “The rest would follow a typical route for a 5k going down Florida, going down to Lumber Street around the Riverwalk, to Camden and back to South Florida Street.”

Ramsey also requested VIPS presence for traffic control.

“We would like to also request the use of the VIPS to help us with traffic management along the route; I think they’re anticipating a crowd size of about 75, and we will not have any vendors, so it is going to be a straightforward fundraiser rate for the Rec Center,” Ramsey said.

Judith Utley with Community Care of West Virginia said they wanted to help the Buckhannon-Upshur community during Mental Health awareness Month.

“We want to set up for a couple hours at Jawbone Park on Thursday, the 14th of October, to bring awareness to what’s available in our community as far as mental health and drug addiction recovery programs,” Utley said. “We will be responsible for our own cleanup, our own setup, we just want to help the community be aware that there are services available in our community. We were trying to do it for September, but October is also a Mental Health Awareness Month, which goes hand-in-hand.”

Lastly, the board approved the Veteran’s Day Parade to step off at 9 a.m. Nov. 11. The parade will start at the Charles W. Gibson Library and end at Jawbone Park, with a short program to end the parade.