First-ever Red Brick Run added to 2025 Red Brick Roads festival
By Sherry Lucas
The last weekend in March is a prime time to put on not just your dancing shoes for rollicking rhythms on Clinton’s brick streets for the Red Brick Roads Music & Arts Festival. It’s also a prime time to don your running shoes, as a fun new event folds into festival weekend.
The Red Brick Run 5K Walk/Run on Saturday, March 29, will get the heart pumping and juices flowing for all the great music to hear and art to embrace later in the day.
The festival’s inaugural run starts bright and early at 7 a.m. on March 29 at the Olde Towne Depot, and concludes by 9 a.m. There is also a virtual race option. Register for the walk/run at RunSignUp.com. At last check, nearly ninety participants had signed up for the race.
The open-course run through Clinton’s historic Olde Towne gives a street level view of the city’s charm, along with the camaraderie of fellow runners.
“You’re going to run around Olde Towne a little bit, and run a decent amount on the brick streets,” run coordinator Nathan Cummins said.
The run’s addition to the Clinton calendar marks the fruition of a long-time wish to build a series of runs for the community, and organizers hope the success of the annual Yule Run, which enjoyed its biggest outing yet this past December, will help feed participation for this new one.
With the Red Brick Roads Festival’s move to March, it was a natural fit to add the run, Cummins said. “It’s always nice running this time of year.”
As part of signing up, participants will be getting a race T-shirt and a pass to one day of the Red Brick Roads Festival as an added perk and more bang for their buck, Cummins said. This run will also feature awards at the end, based on age class.
The hope is that the pass will bring runners back to downtown for the festival, perhaps with a friend in tow.
“Hopefully, it will bring more people to the festival,” said Clinton Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Anna Nutt.
Red Brick Roads Music & Art Festival gears back up that afternoon once gates open at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, and the free Art in the Park is happening 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Lions Club Park.
Red Brick Roads Music & Arts Festival is a joint project of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Clinton and the City of Clinton.
