From rucking to riding, disc golf to reenactments, the 20th annual Emporia Freedom Fest brought all of it to the Emporia All Veterans Memorial Saturday.
The morning’s activities got underway with a more than 18-mile Norwegian Foot March that saw participants endure the course with packs weighing in excess of 25 lbs on their backs. Over 130 individuals, including civilians and active military personnel, took on the grueling endurance challenge.
Ruck march organizer Ray Baquero was very impressed with the turnout especially after last year’s ruck march saw just two participants. When asked what he thinks contributed to the turnout, Baquero says there is a lot of prestige that comes with completing this particular endurance test.
Longtime Freedom Fest organizer Steve Harmon says over the last 20 years, Freedom Fest has grown from simply being an event that honors veterans into one that showcases “everything good” about the Emporia community.
In addition to the ruck challenge, activities again included the annual 20 and 50-mile freedom rides, 5K and 10K run and walks, war reenactments and the Freedom Fest Open disc golf tournament in Soden’s Grove. Jackie Morris of Dynamic Discs says they are proud of their partnership with the Freedom Fest committee saying it is an important collaboration for the city of Emporia and the sport of disc golf.
While speaking with KVOE News Saturday, Emporia Main Street Community Development Director Jessica Buccholz noted that this year’s turnout was one for the record books. She adds that in addition to the hundreds of individuals who came out for the various events, many of them were from outside of the Emporia area with many of those coming from other states to take part in the festivities.
She says seeing those statistics is a great indicator of how much Freedom Fest has grown and evolved over the last 20 years.
Freedom Fest serves as the lead into even more activities as All Veterans Tribute Week continues through Veterans Day next Saturday. A full schedule of activities can be found online at VisitEmporia.com/events.
Photos by Tagan Trahoon and Dylan Sherwood/KVOE News and Jessica Buccholz/Emporia Main StreetÂ
