The village of Lansing took a beating in the summer.
Weather events July 27
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and Aug.11 with tornados sweeping through the community made life miserable for many residents and Mayor Brian Hardy issued a disaster proclamation.So the town can use some good news, right?
It’s coming Wednesday as Lansing will enjoy a special event and designation when the American Discovery 250 Relay rolls into town.
This 6,800-mile relay, in which citizens run with a baton containing a copy of the Declaration of Independence, started in July in California and made a stop at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco July 4. It will end in Delaware on Thanksgiving and is being run as a part of recognizing the country’s 250th birthday.
The relay makes a stop in the Southland with ceremonies at 8 a.m. Tuesday at Breidert Green in Frankfort, noon at Holden Park in Matteson and 5:30 p.m. at North Creek Meadow in Chicago Heights.
At 8 a.m. on Wednesday, runners with the baton will take off from Chicago Heights and at 9:20 a.m. are scheduled to be at Pennsy Greenway and Wentworth Avenue in Lansing. There will be a ceremony, and the village will be designated as the first American Discovery Trail Town in the state.
“We have really good trails and we have formed a committee and we want to make sure that committee lives up to the guidelines of the American Discover Trail,” Hardy said. “We promote our trails all of the time.
“We want to get more of our residents and residents of the surrounding communities involved in outdoor activities.”
For Hardy, Wednesday’s event will be a nice break after all the misfortune in his community.
“Oh, goodness, yes,” he said. “We got beat up Aug. 11 and July 27 and many homes in the village were destroyed.
“But in Lansing, we came together and if you drive through town now, you would never even realize that we had this destruction and devastation in it.”
Haley Klausner grew up in Lansing. Though she now lives in Oak Lawn, she became the village’s director of communications in May and has seen quite a bit in her first five months on the job. She said she is excited about the relay coming through town.
Klausner said school districts, forest preserve districts, neighboring communities and state Sen. Elgie Sims are behind the project and one of the stops of the relay will be at T.F. South High School, where the band will provide music.
“This project started quite a while before I got here,” Klausner said. “It’s been a labor of love. Our community has come together for a lot this summer and this is an opportunity for us to enjoy something positive.”
Mitch Barloga, one of the coordinators overseeing the nationwide relay, said there was a hiccup early on, but it has run smoothly since.
“Everything was moving right along until we hit Utah,” he said. “We had to take a few days off because of fires and intense heat. Otherwise, it’s been pretty well run.”
Thousands of people will take part in running with the baton, but relay officials shied away from having celebrities participate.
“We’ve tried to focus this on everyday people,” Barloga said. “We want ordinary people who are Americans. We’re organic and not full of corporate sponsorships. It’s a very genuine event. I call it pure patriotism coast to coast.”
The Frankfort stop from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Tuesday at Breidert Green will feature music, speeches, coffee, refreshments and family friendly entertainment. Guests are welcome to walk, run, bike, roll or just cheer as it heads off on the Old Plank Road Trail.
At noon, Matteson and Park Forest will host a two-hour event at Holden Park in Matteson before the relay moves to North Creek Meadow in Chicago Heights, where Glenwood and Lynwood join forces for a 5:30 p.m. ceremony with music, food trucks and remarks from Glenwood Mayor Toleda Hart and Lynwood Mayor Jada D. Curry.
After Wednesday’s ceremonies, (Lansing Mayor) Hardy will hand off a special baton carrying a copy of Declaration of Independence to Munster officials at about 10:30 a.m. at the Pennsy Greenway Bike Trailhead.
The baton will travel east down the bike path toward the Highland/Munster Bridges Over Ditches connection. At Munster High School, the cross country team will carry the baton to officials in Highland, Indiana.
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Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.