Courtesy of Upper Arlington Civic Association.
Upper Arlington Civic Association (UACA) hopes to help the community take a load off with their annual Labor Neighbor Day celebration Monday.
The holiday gathering capitalizes on the waning days of warm weather to offer a sendoff to the summer season. The community will gather for the event at Hastings Middle School. Labor Neighbor Day centers around two main activities: morning bike races and afternoon whiffle ball tournaments.
“It’s a very positive event for the community,” says Brett Goode, co-director of the Labor Neighbor Day events. “It’s a great opportunity for the kids to get out, have fun.”
The competitions feature youth competitors from age two to 12 for the bike races and up to age 14 for the whiffle ball tournament. The athletes will compete in divisions split by age and, for the bike races, gender. Registration has closed for both events.
The events will be coupled with food trucks between the sessions and a small awards ceremony with a podium and trophies for first through third place.
Although the stakes are high, all contests reached full registration, Labor Neighbor Day keeps a light-hearted attitude.
“It’s not taken as an overly serious event,” Good says. “Everybody gets a participation ribbon for participating in the races.”
Labor Neighbor Day has been an annual highlight in the Upper Arlington community since beginning in 2018. In just those few years, coordinators have already made a plethora of changes and improvements. Last year, COVID-19 forced further adjustments.
The 2020 Labor Neighbor Day was the first event UACA held since the onset of the pandemic. The organization took steps to organize a gathering the community could enjoy while still following safety precautions. A major difference: the whiffle ball tournaments and bike races were held on separate days to decrease crowding and lower the chances of the virus spreading.
This year, though the events are back on the same day, safety is still a concern with roughly 150 child participants. Teams will all have their own bats and won’t be sharing any communal drinking sources.
UACA hopes the event can be a chance for people to come back together and experience the joy of community.
“I just think it brings back a positive atmosphere to the community,” Goode says. “Gets people out celebrating the holiday a little bit.”
Labor Neighbor Day begins with bike race participant check-ins at 8 a.m. Monday, Sept. 6 at the Hastings Middle School track, 1850 Hastings Ln. The races begin at 9 a.m. In the afternoon, the activities will move to Hastings’ baseball and lacrosse field behind the school for the whiffle ball tournaments. More information can be found at https://directors1933.uaca.org/wordpress/
Chantal Brown is an editorial assistant. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
