Its sole reason for existing is to raise funds for the local fire company. And while it certainly has served that purpose, it has sort of taken on a life of its own.
The Bird-in-Hand Half Marathon brings the community out and brings the community together.
On Friday and Saturday in the quaint village in East Lampeter Township – smack dab in the middle of Lancaster County’s famous Amish country – the aptly named Hand-in-Hand Fire Company staged yet another wildly successful Bird-in-Hand Half Marathon, its 13th. More than a thousand runners of all sizes and abilities descended upon Bird-in-Hand to celebrate their passion, sample the area’s warm hospitality and help support one of the locale’s most worthy non-profit ventures.
“Runners are different,” said Tim Hoerner, one of the Bird-in-Hand Half Marathon’s co-chairs. “Some are the most positive people you will ever meet. Our race has a very good reputation. We provide a family atmosphere, a community atmosphere, one that’s just friendly for everyone. A lot of people end up bringing family, but everybody shows up with someone.”
More than simply a run, the Bird-in-Hand Half Marathon has evolved into an event.
Friday featured a kids’ run and the Bird-in-Hand 5K, while the Bird-in-Hand Half Marathon was staged on Saturday morning. Some 1700 runners registered for the main event, while the 5K boasted more than a thousand runners.
The event took over Bird-in-Hand for the beginning of last weekend, and competitors were treated to a running course through some of the most scenic farmland in all of Pennsylvania.
“We really don’t want it to become a race,” said Hoerner, a 68-year-old resident of Bird-in-Hand. “It’s about community because that’s what it is. It wouldn’t take more than a few hundred more runners to lose that feel. Going forward, we have no intention of making this a 6,000- or 10,000-person race.
“We want to maintain that feel,” continued Horner. “We get 200 to 300 volunteers from the community to help. That’s who’s putting it on. There are ways to get people to come out. People like to interact with the Amish, so that’s a big draw too.”
The Hand-in-Hand Fire Company staged its inaugural Bird-in-Hand Half Marathon on November 6, 2010. The year after, the event was moved to the first weekend after Labor Day, and it’s really taken off since then.
The five fundraisers that the Hand-in-Hand Fire Company conducted in 2021 raised a total of about $150,000, and the Bird-in-Hand Half Marathon was responsible for about $80,000 of that. When one considers similar sums multiplied over the life of the event, he or she begins to understand the true importance of the half marathon to the financial welfare of the fire company.
“It mobilizes the community,” said Hoerner. “We’re (the fire company) financially sound, financially sustainable, and this event is a part of that. We’re doing this to provide services to our community. The Hand-in-Hand Fire Company is extremely important, because we know where we came from and where we are headed.”
