Event Description
The Farm Fresh 5k and 1 mile is a fun trail run on Saturday, September 30 at Gast Family Farms. We are located at 5165 Lincoln Avenue, St. Joseph, MI.
The new race name this year reflects our growing family farm. The race started several years ago with just our family and friends as the Grape Stomp 5k as part of our very large family getting together for our annual family "grape juice weekend," where we would gather at the farm and make homemade grape juice for family and friends. As most of us are avid runners, we incorporated a fun run into the annual weekend, which slowly expanded into this public fun run. The farm has also expanded, as Farmers Scott & Jenna opened their farm stand in 2021 and then their retail farm store in 2022, growing and selling fresh local produce for the community.
This run still retains its informal roots - there will be t-shirts, homemade medals, grape juice, snacks, and farm tours for the very low price of just $10 per participant. Not only that, $9 of your $10 registration fee is donated to a local community organization! Plus, it's a beautiful time of year to be in Southwest Michigan at the farm.
Please note that this is a fun run type race, through farm fields, with a made-up-just-days-before route that will have a lot of twists and turns. We may rustle up some prizes for our top overall runners BUT please show up to run or walk for fun regardless! Also, we will try again this year to give you a race time, but definitely keep your expectations low - Lisa is 0/2 on managing to properly time this race. (We do this because it's a lot of fun to put on each year, not because we're really good at race directing!)
Race fees ($9 of your $10 fee) will be donated to the Lakeshore Lions Club. The Lions Club is a great non-profit doing good things in our local community like donating items to the Emergency Shelter in Benton Harbor, funding a local scholarship, and organizing community events such as the annual Easter Egg hunt and the popular Car Show in Stevensville. Our family will also match funds raised from race fees up to $500 total.
RACE DAY SCHEDULE - 9/30/23
- 8:00 to 8:30 - Packet Pickup in the Driveway
- 8:30 - 5K Starts
- 8:40 - 1 Mile Starts
- 9:00 to 10:00 - Snacks and Farm Tour
- 10:00 - Farm Store Opens
T-SHIRT ORDER CUT-OFF: Register before Saturday 9/16 to ensure you get a t-shirt. We'll order a few extras, but no guarantee!
CANCELLATION POLICY - If you can't attend for any reason, we do not offer refunds - this is a fundraiser for a non-profit. Basically, you did a great thing as a good human and donated to the Lions Club. You can, however, pick up your t-shirt at the farm store within 2 weeks of the race if you cannot attend.
