First annual Port Oneida Run-5K Barn to Barn Trail Run/Walk
By F. Josephine Arrowood
Sun contributor
The popularity of 5K runs nationwide has been growing, and this summer Leelanau has seen its share of runs, trots, dashes, and challenges that raise funds for good causes, celebrate community, and get families outside in a fun, healthy activity.
This Labor Day Saturday, Sept. 4, will see a new entrant that combines all of these worthy goals, while wrapping up a lively Leelanau summer season. With the clang of an old-time farm bell, the first annual Port Oneida Run-5K Barn to Barn Trail Run/Walk will take off at 9 a.m. A free, quarter-mile kids’ Schoolhouse Dash to the Port Oneida School will also take place. According to Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear’s Director Susan Pocklington, 5K participants will enjoy running or hiking “through open meadows, forests, and spectacular views along Lake Michigan bluffs in the port Oneida Rural Historic District — a pastoral landscape of farmsteads from the late 1800s, nestled among the hills within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.”
Sponsored by PHSB, the $20 race fee will benefit the nonprofit organization’s programs, including an educational exhibit of homesteading at the Charles and Hattie Olsen Farm on M-22; preservation projects such as the upcoming Katie Shepherd Hotel porch restoration on North Manitou Island from August 20-29; and ongoing clearing of invasive, non-native plants from farm fields, returning them to their 19th- and early 20th-century agricultural appearance.
After the race, top finishers in several age categories, as well as overall male and female winners, will be awarded one-of-a-kind trophies: barn plaques, crafted of historic materials from past PHSB restoration projects by volunteer member and woodworker Herb Holdwick of Maple City. Prize drawings donated by local businesses and individuals include original artwork, posters, books by award-winning authors, gift certificates, culinary offerings, and much more. Food will also be available, say race organizers, and families may enjoy self-guided tours of the Olsen Farm, including its exhibit-in-progress.
Cassidy Edwards of Glen Arbor, two-time silver medalist in the Junior Olympics in cross country skiing and a competitive distance runner, designed the trail course for both serious runners and those who would enjoy a hike with beautiful vistas. She describes the run, which begins and ends at the Charles Olsen Farm, as a “unique (if sweaty) tour of Sleeping Bear’s historic Port Oneida farmsteads.”
It incorporates portions of the popular Bayview Trail, following old cattle paths through verdant forest glades, rising along late summer’s golden bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan, and winding past the meadows and orchards of several farms — and barns — whose names evoke more than a century of the pioneering energy that helped establish Port Oneida and southwestern Leelanau in the 1850s: Thoreson, Miller, Kelderhouse, Werner, Olsen, to name but a few.
The settlers’ legacy continues in the loving, ongoing restorations of their homesteads by groups such as PHSB, the Glen Arbor Art Association, Friends of Sleeping Bear, and the Manitou Islands Preservation Society, all in partnership with the National Park Service. With over 500 structures still extant (as well as fields, orchards, cemeteries, and rare varieties of grains such as rye), the Lakeshore contains the most complete historic agricultural collection in the country. Where else can participants in a fundraising event see so immediately the benefits of their enthusiastic support?
As Cassidy Edwards explains, “Participating in the Barn to Barn Trail Run means witnessing one of the most spectacular historic landscapes in the country. Come explore it, love it, and save it!”
Register online or download a race form now for the Port Oneida Run-Barn to Barn Trail Run/Walk at www.phsb.org. Early registration is $20, with the first 125 entrants receiving a 20-ounce aluminum water bottle with PHSB logo. Volunteers for the race day are also needed for a variety of easy tasks, helping to create a true community event. For more information, call Susan Pocklington at (231) 334-6103.