A Steele County-based organization aimed at strengthening youth is partnering with the Albert Lea wrestling booster club and city officials to bring the Color Dash to Albert Lea Oct. 12.

As the kickoff to Celebrate Albert Lea — a celebration marking the end of the Broadway reconstruction — the 5-kilometer fun run is planned to start near Fountain Lake Park, go west on Fountain Street to Lakeview Boulevard and then around Fountain Lake. At Edgewater Drive, participants will turn around and head back toward Broadway.

Organizer Mark Arjes, one of the founders of Youth 1st and a main organizer of the 5k, said about every kilometer, participants will reach a color station where they will get “blitzed” with a colored powder made from cornstarch.

They will start as what Arjes described as a blank canvas before ending covered in different colors.

“Our goal is to get as many people involved as we can,” Arjes said. “The more money we can raise the better.”

The proceeds will be split between the weight room at Albert Lea High School and starting a Youth 1st chapter in Albert Lea.

Youth 1st, which started in Owatonna three years ago, has a second chapter in Medford. This would be the first chapter outside of Steele County.

Arjes, a former wrestling coach, said the goal of Youth 1st is to improve the development of youth, looking at ways for them to be positive role models, good citizens and good teammates and leaders.

He said he thought the Color Dash seemed like a perfect fit.

“We felt like the Color Dash is fun and exciting and a community-based event,” he said. “It seemed like a great mechanism for us to try it.”

The dash is slated to begin at 10 a.m. with packet pickup for the two hours prior.

To register, visit www.thecolordash5k.com. There is a link to the Albert Lea dash on that website. The price is $35 per person as a team, $40 as an individual or $85 as a family.

For questions, people can email contact@youth1st.com.

Organizers hope to make the Color Dash an annual event.

There will be other activities taking place Oct. 12 as part of Celebrate Albert Lea. The night will end with a street dance, slated for 7 p.m., with a country-music artist.

Look to a later issue of the Tribune for more about Celebrate Albert Lea.