Rain and unseasonably cold weather could not keep Kia’s DASH for Hillside 5K Race and the Hillside Art, Music and Food Festival from being a tremendous success.

The Kia-sponsored 5K drew large crowds, with friends and neighbors turning out on a cool morning to cheer the runners on. Race organizer Brack Hassell did an incredible job planning, publicizing and directing the race — which now ranks as one of the largest in LaGrange history.

Special thanks for the success of the race go to sponsors Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, Securus Select, Golden Bikes and Parmer Water. Their financial and volunteer contributions made the race possible.

Likewise, many people in the community joined together to make the second-ever Hillside Festival even bigger than the first. The fantastic lineup of musicians kept crowds happy and dancing in the streets all day.

Tremendous thanks go to Maggie McDonald and her team at Hillside’s Pure Life Studios for bringing such talented artists to the community. Certainly the festival would not have been possible without the creativity and hard work of three dozen vendors from West Georgia and East Alabama. Their incredible and diverse talents were amazing to see.

Thanks also go to many others who helped make the festival a success, especially volunteers from the community and from fraternities and sororities at LaGrange College. Cathy Smith and her team at DASH for LaGrange Inc., as lead sponsor, once again did a great job collaborating with Hillside residents to make sure the day went smoothly and was fun for all.

A huge thanks goes to the residents of Hillside who made sure that the festival was a place that enriched community life.

Thank you for sharing life and your dreams with my family and me! Last but not least, a big thank you goes out to the community members and visitors who attended the festival. We look forward to continuing to celebrate the bonds that bring us together — art, music and food!

See you next year — Saturday, April 15, 2017!

Ben Wheeler

DASH community developer, festival organizer