File photo by Connor Cummiskey A crowd of eager runners start off the Bavarian Blast 5K run from the Civic Center parking lot on July 15, 2017.

NEW ULM — After a seven-year hiatus, the Fun Run is returning to Bavarian Blast.

Last put on in 2017, the 5K run will be once again part of the festivities of Bavarian Blast and will be held on July 19, starting at 8 a.m. This time, the New Ulm WELLness Collective will be hosting the event.

“People have been talking about, ‘Oh, we really wish it was brought back, we miss it, it was so much fun,'” Samantha Rock, who has helped lead the charge to bring back the event, said. “And I think it’s such a good addition to the Bavarian Blast itself.

“It’s a fun run. The nice thing with that is you don’t have to be a runner to do it, you can walk it. I’ve talked to someone who’s going to bring their kid on a bike and they’re going to do the route. Just getting people out and about and moving.”

Bavarian Blast and the WELLness Collective were mutually interesting in restarting the event, with Rock and Amanda Clipp taking the lead in getting the ball rolling.

The WELLness Collective is a nonprofit dedicated to making “wellness” accessible to all as a fundamental to human health and happiness.

“I’m on the WELLness Collective, and we had talked about fundraising opportunities,” Rock said. “One of the fellow board members, Manda Clipp, she’s like, ‘Oh, we should have the 5K for Bavarian Blast, it’s been a while.’ And I’m also on the Bavarian Blast committee, so I became that anchor between both committees. That’s how it got started.”

The organization has made a few changes to the event, including the rout, which starts and ends at the Brown County Fairgrounds and can be viewed at www.bavarianblast.com/fun-run/. That site is also where people wanting to participate in the event can go to sign up and learn any more information available. Those who register before July 4 get a free t-shirt, but registration will continue up to the day of the race. Participants will also get free admittance to Bavarian Blast for the day, along with a goodie bag.

Rock hopes to have around 100 people sign up for the event and for the numbers to continue to grow as the years progress.

“Since it’s been so long, we didn’t have too high of hopes,” she said. “But we’re hoping through the years it gets bigger and bigger. Just getting the word out is super important for us to let people know we’re bringing it back.”