5th Annual Toasted Owl Gives A Hoot

That’s right it’s been 5 years since the beginning of Northampton’s premier halloween race/walk.  And we have endured all the weather you can imagine. We’ve had cold, rain, the BLIZZARD OF 2011 and beautiful days like Sunday October 26th. 

First let me introduce you to some of the main organizers of the event…..  

Fred Gore, owner of the Toasted Owl Tavern and Fitzwilly’s on Main Street in Northampton, has been a great friend of mine for many years.  

One day he heard me talking about races I was doing  and asked if I would help him put one on at The Owl.  I quickly said I’d love to and asked him to pick a date.  He pulled out his phone, looked at the calender and said ‘Let’s do a halloween race”.  And—Toasted Owl The Gives A Hoot— was born.  

Fred, being the “always giving to others” kind of person, wanted to make sure we raised money for charity with our efforts.  He looked into all the possible charities and decided that The Dakin  Humane Society was our Charity.   

Gina Ciprari, event manager for Dakin, sat with us, listened to what we were doing and sprang into action.  She made contacts, sent out huge email blasts, talked to people and was a ball of fire that was fun to work with.  Seen here in costume with her 8 month old pup early on Sunday.  She did whatever she could do to make sure all the Dakin folks and their pups would enjoy the day.  She even went out on the course as one of our mile split timers. 

Great lady, great cause, great day.

And then I want you yo meet someone that helped enormously behind the scenes. 

Melissa is one of the managers of Fitzwilly’s/The Toasted Owl.  She charged into helping put the day together.  She put out posters, distributed registration forms, found sponsors, you name it she had a hand in it.  And to help represent the establishment she worked for—she came dressed as an owl.  Pretty cool.

 Well it’s time to show you how the day turned out.   There are 3 entries with pictures and stories to show just a little bit of the excitement that was everywhere on what turned out to be a RECORD SETTING DAY.  So check them out and put this race/ walk on your calender for next year.