At the Maine Lobster Festival, there’s something for everyone; carnival rides, artwork and craftsmanship by Maine artists, The Big Parade, delicious seafood, and entertainment groups from near and far. Above all, the Maine Lobster Festival is a celebration of maritime culture and the lobster industry.
For the active Festival visitors, Sunday morning means waking up early for the Maine Lobster Festival’s 10K Road Race, 5K Walk and the 1 Mile Kids’ Fun Run.
In 2014, the Maine Lobster Festival teamed up with Go! Malawi to organize, administer, lead, direct, provide safety for, and close out the three races. In over 30 years of holding the road races, this is the first time that the Maine Lobster Festival partnered with another organization for one of their events. The Festival directors thought it would be worthwhile to join with the runners and organizers of Go! Malawi in 2014 to offer a more organized race experience for participants.
Go! Malawi is a small, non-profit organization based in Hebron, Maine. Their mission is to collaborate with rural Malawian communities to develop sustainable programs in education, health care, commerce, and conservation. The Go! Malawi Race Series consists of road races in Camden and Rockland throughout the year. All proceeds from their races and donations are given directly to their programs in Nchisi, where they are working to alleviate extreme poverty.
Proceeds from the Maine Lobster Festival’s road race events were split with Go! Malawi. Seen in the accompanying photograph, taken on September 30th, are (from left) Andrew Bonarrigo, Race Coordinator for Go! Malawi, Janet Littlefield, Go! Malawi Founder, Chuck Kruger, 2014 Maine Lobster Festival President, and Laurie Smith, Maine Lobster Festival Secretary to the board and 2014 Race Director.
To learn more about Go! Malawi, visit their website at http://go-malawi.org/.