Annual Wiggle Butt 5K

Thanks for making the Wiggle Butt 5k a Success!

WNC Boxer Rescue would like to thank everyone who participated in the 1st annual Wiggle Butt 5k! Each and every person helped make this event a success.

Click for Results of the 5k

Here’s a Recap of the Event…

“Fletcher Park fundraiser goes to the dogs”

WNC Boxer Rescue raises money to care for animals

As it does for many similar events throughout the year, Fletcher Community Park played host Sunday to the inaugural Wiggle Butt 5K, 1-Mile Fun Run and Dog Walk.

More than 100 runners — many with their boxers and several other dog breeds at their side — participated in the 3.1-mile run, while another 50 or so took part in the walk an hour later.

The event — proceeds of which will go to Ivey’s $10,000 veterinary bill for the 75 dogs his group has rescued this year — also featured food, music, children’s face-painting and a “Kissing Booth,” where boxers smooched their admirers for a dollar.

“It’s a great place to have an event because you have a lot of room, it’s close and it’s safe,” said Ivey, founder and president of the rescue group, who added that local emergency responders volunteered to work the event to ensure safety.

“It’s just a big, open area — kids can play (in the kid’s park), people can lay a blanket down and hang out — there’s enough room for everybody to do whatever they want to do. We just think it’s a great place. We come here a lot and walk our dogs and do some training with the dogs.”

With 4 miles of greenway now traversing the 70-acre park, it also is ideal for running and walking events. The park’s cross-country running course connects the old greenway with a new section completed in May 2010 as part of a stimulus grant.

“We’ve got a lot going on,” said Greg Walker, director of Parks and Recreation for the Town of Fletcher. “It’s a beautiful park, so we stay busy.”

Indeed, the park now hosts seven 5K events put on by various area nonprofits throughout the year, plus the annual Fletcher Flyer bike ride and Relay for Life — each of which has drawn about 1,000 participants the past few years, Walker said.

This month alone, the park will also host The Healing Place 5K and the WNC middle school cross-country championships.

Walker said when he came aboard a few years ago he immediately recognized the potential of the park, so he approached many local organizations to discuss the possibility of hosting their events.

Though he’s not aware of any economic impact studies from the park on the town of Fletcher and its businesses, “We know places like Blue Sky Cafe benefit from the 250 to 300 participants you’ll typically see at one of the 5Ks in the park,” Walker said.

He cited studies that found people who visit a town for events like the Wiggle Butt “easily” spend $50 to $100 a day while they are there, “So we know there’s an indirect spin-off from these events,” he said.

Sunday, Nelda Phillips drove down from Burnsville to run the 5K with her 3-year-old dog, Allie Grace, that she adopted from the Yancey County Humane Society.

“This is actually my first 5K,” Phillips said, “and I came because I always run with (Allie Grace) and I wanted an event where we could participate together.”