BROOKVILLE — Council approved the 14th annual walk and block party to benefit the Pink Ribbon Girls organization.

The event will take place Saturday, Aug. 26.

This year’s event will partially move back to its roots.

In past years, the event consisted of a 5K walk that began and ended on the Brookville Local Schools district campus.

Last year’s event was different

The 2022 event consisted of the walk taking place along Market Street in downtown Brookville and the Wolf Creek Pike bike trail.

In addition to the walk, a block party and a live concert was created and centered downtown.

The block party consisted of such activities as a cornhole tournament, a kids’ area, food vendors and a beer garden.

Entertainment was provided by the Bourbon Road Band, who performed on a stage at the intersection of Market and Walnut streets.

Gale Colston, organizer of the event, told council the downtown block party will take place again this year.

But she indicated the 5K walk will return to its original location and will once again take place in the morning.

The downtown events, Colston said, will follow the 5K walk later in the day.

“When it was time to commit to do something again this year; we had a couple of issues with last year’s event,” Colston said.

“If you were there, you realized we had the walk, but we didn’t have a whole lot of school involvement in the program,” Colston noted.

“The school was a big fundraiser, but it was also kind of like our core group that we originally started with,” Colston said.

Colston said her group met with school officials in attempt to find a way to get the district involved in the event once again.

“We went back to the school and we asked them how can we get you involved again, or is there something that we can do different to make it easier for you to be involved,” Colston said.

Colston said one of the problems encountered last year was the event was scheduled on the same day as Brookville High School’s Homecoming weekend.

“The other thing is because of us having a beer garden and the school supports the event through its Wellness program, they just didn’t feel like it was appropriate and it made sense,” Colston said.

Colston said after learning of those reasons, she asked school officials how she could get the school district involved in this year’s event.

“What they suggested is to conduct the walk just like before, leaving from the school, coming out on those surface streets where we cross Western and go down Westbrook. We go up Wolf Creek. We come back down Arlington and then go back into the school,” Colston said.

“This way we can get the school involved and we can get the community involved,” Colston continued.

Colston said the walk would take place a 9 a.m. and conclude between 11-11:30 a.m.

Colston indicated a major change from last year is the day of the event.

In past years, the event took place the last week of September.

“By doing it the last Saturday of August, it puts us the Saturday before Labor Day,” Colston said.

“The reason we chose that date is we believe we won’t have any conflict with the school,” Colston explained.

“The second reason is weather and additional light. We have at least another hour’s worth of daylight at that point in time,” Colston continued.

Colston indicated plans are to conduct the cornhole tournament again this year.

Colston said some time is needed to secure an individual to set up the tournament.

“We lost Ryan Price. He was my cornhole guy,” Colston said.

Price,48, died unexpectedly on Jan. 29, 2023, of a heart attack.

Colston said she will relate the status of the cornhole tournament to council at a future council meeting.

Colston said she was apprehensive when it was decided to change the format of the event last year.

“When we changed this event to the block party I truly wondered if we could pull it off and be as successful as we have been in the past.” Colston said.

But Colston said her concern proved to be unwarranted.

“We raised more than $65,000 for the PInk Ribbon Girls organization,” Colston said.

According to the Pink Ribbon Girls website, the organization “provides meals, transportation, housecleaning and peer support free of charge to breast cancer or gynecological cancer patients at their time of greatest need.”

Reach Terry Baver at [email protected]