On a chilly March 28th, around 100 runners gathered to run the new “Dyngus Day 5k”, sponsored by Aftermath Cidery and Winery at their new location near downtown Valpo.
To see more photos from this event, click here!
Dyngus Day is commemorated in Poland and in Polish communities across the U. S. Dyngus Day is marked by parties and parades with some fun traditions thrown in as well. Dyngus Day traces its origins back to the baptist of Police Prince Mieszko in 966 A.D. With water signifying cleaning and purification. The word “Dyngus” loosely translates to “worthy”.
“Dyngus Day is a polish holiday where we celebrate the fast from Easter being over, and it's a great fun day, so this year we’re starting off pretty small," says Nicki Caylor, owner of Aftermath. "It's a brand new race in Porter County by Northwest Indiana Races, and they chose to have it here at Aftermath Cidery.
While the official grand opening of Aftermath Cidery won't be until later on in the spring, Caylor expressed her excitement of being able to share a sneak peak of what is yet to come.
"Our official grand opening won't be until the end of April so today’s just a sneak peek for all of our running community to see the place," says Caylor.
The first finisher, John Borman, came across the line with a time of 18:36.8 followed by James Kyle in second with a time of 18:57.1. Matthew Wade came in third place with a time of 19:37.3, and Karen Spoor in fourth with a time of 22:07.6.
“I hope everyone has a wonderful race today we’re excited to let people have a peek at the new Aftermath site because we’re hoping they'll see how neat it's going to be and come back,” says Manager of Aftermath, Kathy Burke-McCascy.
After the race pizza and cider was served, and awards were given to the first male and female finisher. Aftermath is hoping that next year's race will be bigger and better than this year’s and they have high hopes for their Winery opening in April!