{"id":3273,"date":"2012-12-03T16:43:17","date_gmt":"2012-12-03T21:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=3273"},"modified":"2012-12-03T16:46:30","modified_gmt":"2012-12-03T21:46:30","slug":"crowds-fill-coatesville-for-event-packed-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=3273","title":{"rendered":"Crowds fill Coatesville for event-packed weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tree-lighting, race, parade attract spectators, participants<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/span><\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Maasai Harris, 9, from Caln Elementary School, shows off his form during the Festive 5K. Photo by Duane Plank<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Holiday magic will continue in Coatesville after an activity-filled weekend that included the city tree-lighting, a championship football win, a successful race fund-raiser, a festive parade, and a visit from Santa.<\/p>\n

Marie Hess, who heads the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission, said turnout for the tree-lighting \u00a0on Friday night was lower than usual but with good reason:\u00a0 Many football fans traveled to Downingtown to watch the Red Raiders win the AAAA District 1 Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a good crowd,\u201d said Hess, adding that people were cheering on the football team from afar. The tree-lighting was followed by a rousing performance by the Coatesville Campus Gospel Choir.<\/p>\n

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Race winner Kyle Dawson of Coatesville is flanked by Jennifer McNeil, a Brandywine Health Foundation board member, and Harry Lewis, board president. Photo by Duane Plank<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

By 5 a.m. Saturday, a volunteer crew began readying the streets for the Brandywine Health Foundation\u2019s Third Annual Festive 5K Run and One-Mile Fun Walk. Coatesville Police Officer Rodger Ollis, a member of the organization committee who also served as course navigator, said he saw an increase in participants, particularly young people. His vantage point: \u00a0a traffic safety vehicle that stayed about a half-block in front of the lead runners.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely didn\u2019t get as tired as they did,\u201d joked Ollis, whose oldest son and daughter ran in the race. \u201cIt was great to see so many new faces. \u201d One of them was Stephen Johnson, who will be sworn in Dec. 10 as Coatesville\u2019s next police chief.<\/p>\n

David Lapp, chairman of the Festive 5K volunteer committee, said a new Youth Run sponsor enabled the committee to waive the fee for participants 17 and under, a change that contributed to more than 500 runners and walkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe committee goal was to produce a healthy community event that brought together residents as well as visitors into downtown Coatesville,\u201d Lapp said. \u201cWith numerous, generous sponsors, countless in-kind donations to our post-race festivities from local businesses, over 100 caring volunteers, and over $44,000 in revenue, we believe we achieved that goal and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

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With spectators lining both sides of the street, the 2012 Coatesville Christmas Parade entertained crowds on Saturday. Photo by Marie Hess<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Medals were handed out in eight divisions ranging from 11 and under to 70 and over.\u00a0\u00a0 Medals and cash prizes were given to the overall first-, second-, and third-place male and females. Kyle Dawson, 24, a former CASH cross-country standout, finished first in the male division with a time of 15:17, just before his twin brother Owen, another acclaimed distance runner who finished second with a time of 15:27. Kimberly Cary, 27, of Malvern finished first in the female division with a time of 19:31 making her the \u201cwoman to beat\u201d in 2013 at the 4th<\/sup> Annual Festive 5K Run\/Walk next December.<\/p>\n

Dawson and Cary were awarded special trophies designed with steel donated by ArcelorMittal.\u00a0 The top fund-raising award went to Latifa Raheem, who raised over $500 in donations and\u00a0 Community Spirit Awards were presented to the Chester County Futures team, which\u00a0 had 55 team members, and the Caln Elementary Cross Country team with over 65\u00a0 members.<\/p>\n

Donations, which benefit the Coatesville Youth Initiative,\u00a0 a multi-faceted teen outreach program, will remain open until Dec. 8. Visit http:\/\/brandywinefoundation.donorpages.com\/3rdAnnualFestive5KRunWalk\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hess, who marched in the Christmas Parade with the costumed winners of the Halloween Parade, said the route \u2013 an hour-and-a-half procession from Strode to 11th<\/sup> Avenue \u2013 was lined with spectators. \u201cIt was really fun to see so many people out,\u201d she said, adding that the nice weather encouraged participation.<\/p>\n

For those who missed Santa\u2019s visit after the parade, more opportunities are available, courtesy of the Rotary Club of Coatesville. For a $10 cost, Santa will pose for photos the next three Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the gazebo, Second Avenue and East Lincoln Highway.<\/p>\n

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Tree-lighting, race, parade attract spectators, participants By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times Holiday magic will continue in Coatesville after an activity-filled weekend that included the city tree-lighting, a championship football win, a successful race fund-raiser, a festive parade, and a visit from Santa. Marie Hess, who heads the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,172,3,1],"tags":[110,24,1188,258,1189,1187,1185,419,1186,418,434],"class_list":["post-3273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-events","category-featured","category-uncategorized","tag-brandywine-health-foundation","tag-coatesville","tag-coatesville-campus-gospel-choir","tag-coatesville-youth-initiative","tag-david-lapp","tag-kimberly-cary","tag-kyle-dawson","tag-marie-hess","tag-owen-dawson","tag-rodger-ollis","tag-rotary-club-of-coatesville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}