In all, the festival raised $7,000 to help the library fund a new solar project. The estimated cost of the project is $83,596 — $62,697 of which was already awarded from the New York State 2019 Construction Grant.

The Running Festival, produced and created by Wilson Endurance Sports, was put together in two months after the board of directors at the library approached them about creating an event of some type to help raise that necessary money. In that time, the courses for the event, as well as the logo were developed.

As part of the event, there was a full marathon (26.2 miles), a half marathon (13.1), a 10K (6.2), a 5K (3.1), and a one mile race starting and finishing at Cassadaga Beach. Participants in the event ranged anywhere from age four to 79, and participants from all around the United States came to participate as well, as this was one of the first events available following the COVID-19 shutdown. The events had competitors from Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia.

The Cassadaga Running Festival also had several volunteers from the local area, and a large group of sponsors to provide competitors with medals, shirts, food catered from Fred’s Food Service, Southern Tier Brewing Company Beer Zone, live music from the Second Street Sunset Band, massage therapist and a whole lot of fun. Local businesses that sponsored the event were Kwik Fill – Cassadaga, Defiance Tools, Fermentation Station, King Kone, Robo Enterprises, Monte’s Small Engine Repair, Terry Hokaj – Thrivent, Chris Cooke Architecture, Adaptive Massage, Cassadaga Community Bank, N.A., Cassadaga Shur Fine, Cassadaga Truck & Auto Sales, Cassadaga Village Historian, Jordan Forestry, Salon 17, Cassadaga, Solar Liberty, Mike Frame Images & Computer Consulting, and The RED House. National sponsors that provide products through Wilson Endurance Sports were Hammer Nutrition, Southern Tier Brewing Company, Doctor Hoy’s and Shave Secret.

Above, the race begins in the Cassadaga Running Festival. The festival raised $7,000 to help the Mary E. Seymour Memorial Free Library fund a new solar project. Submitted photos

Winners (male and female) of each event were:

¯ MARATHON — Jeff Zubler of Buffalo in 3:31:04; Beth Connolly of Manchester, N.H., with a time of 3:55:00.

¯ HALF MARATHON — Jennifer Selig of Lancaster in an incredible time of 1:26:00 followed by male winner; Drew Sullivan of Buffalo in 1:30:12.

¯ 10K — Luke Rogers of Buffalo in 36:01; Brooke Adams of East Aurora in 44:00.

¯ 5K — Mary Lawrence of Boston flew across the finish line in 21:19 and was followed by Eric Witkowski of Erie, Pa., in 22:30.

¯ 1 MILE — Male winner was Chad Beer of Beaver, Pa., and female winner was Kater Hockenberry of Jamestown in 7:37.

A complete list of finishing times can be found on the Race Results page of www.CoachMarkWilson.com.