The Elkhart County Fair Parade 5000 is a 5k race held on the first Sunday of the Elkhart County 4H Fair every year. The race leads and goes along the parade route from Downtown Goshen to the county fair grounds. The race begins at the heat of the day at 1:30 in the afternoon.

Participants are to arrive at the fairgrounds early to pick up their race packets. If you are unable to, you can have someone else pick it up for you. Also, there is no packet pickup the night before, only on race day. Basically you just get your t-shirt and race bib. From packet pickup, you have a couple of options on how you can get to the starting line: you can either run/walk there (about 2.5 miles) or take a charter bus (free and for runners only). I ran to the start to use it as a warm up. A suggestion on if you run to the start, grab a bottle of water or two (provided free to runners) to carry with you to the start. It will probably be a hot day.

The busses will drop you off at a park right by the starting line. You will have to walk a little bit but you will be able to find some shade to relax in leading up to the start. The busses drop you off about an hour before the race (to ensure that all runners arrive on time and don't get caught in traffic) so you have plenty of time to relax.

As mentioned the course starts in town and it is just about a straight shot east to the fairgrounds. There are really only 4major turns and one lap around the half mile horse track that makes up the course. The first two miles are on paved roads while the last mile consist of a dirt road and a dirt race track. Usually this doesn't matter but the night before the race, the area received a good amount of rain. If you got too far on the inside of the track, it became very slippery.

On course assistance was basic, 2 water stops at mile 1 and 2, bottle water and an ice cold wet towel at the finish. Post race there was no food for runners. I am sure they want you to purchase greasy fair food instead.

Awards were held, with 5 year age groups. Awards were generic medals with the Parade 5000 logo on the ribbon. Door prizes were also awarded. Those included a lot of what I would consider clearance items from a sporting goods store in town. Basically it was made up of a lot of college team gear from college not from the area. Also prizes included track seating for the big country concerts held later in the week at the fair.

If you plan to run the Parade 5000, be ready for the heat. It is common to see temps in the upper 80s and low 90s. Heat index were right about 100 this year. This race has been run by the same race director for 35 years, and this was his last year. It will have a new director next year but it sounds like things would stay the same. My recommendation to the new director is that they do away with the cotton shirts and get tech.