Color 5K: the race that never happened

As Lakewood Ranch High School student Shelby Ryskamp and her mom, Lynne, tossed handfuls of colored chalk into the air Nov. 5, it wasn’t exactly how they expected to spend their morning.

Instead of running through bursts of color in the 5K Color Fest event at Premier Sports Campus, the pair stood on a bare a patch of grass by a table holding a box of T-shirts and bags of colored chalk.

No one from the race organizer, 5K Color Fest, ever showed up.

Participants said they never received notice the event was cancelled.

Lakewood Ranch’s Stephanie Heald, who came out with her 11-year-old son, Connor, signed up the night before the race.

“I’m sad, but we’re going to make the most out of it,” she said, after she and Connor colored themselves with chalk and took a selfie. “I do hope I get my money back.”

Registration was supposed to start at 8 a.m. for the 10 a.m. 5K event. 

But when Premier Sports Campus staff member Ernesto Alvarez arrived around 6:30 a.m., only the event DJ was there. Local workers from a staffing company hired to support event arrived around 7 a.m. but no one from the 5K Color Fest never came. 

“I called my son and told him not to come. He was supposed to run it it,” Alvarez said with a shrug.

The staffing company had T-shirts and packets of colored chalk to be used for the race, but otherwise did not have any instructions. A team lead for that company, who would not provide her name or the company’s name, said its contract with 5K Color Fest was simply to provide support, not organize the event. 

Alvarez and staffing company members quickly began fielding questions from frustrated event participants — more than 200 in total — who gradually left. Some stuck around long enough to get T-shirts and throw chalk at each other.

Alvarez and staffing company members said they spoke to their contact for the race, a man named Barry with an Indianapolis area code. He told them his “staff” — the staffing company and Premier officials — were supposed to handle the details.

Representatives of both Premier and the staffing company said their contracts stated otherwise. Premier simply leased the property. The staffing company was supposed to meet with a 5K Color Fest team member and provide support only, not organize the event.

Alvarez also said 5K Color Fest representatives were supposed to meet Premier staff on Friday, Nov. 4 to determine the 5K course route and other logistics. No one arrived.

The Observer called a number provided for “Barry,” but left a message. Neither the inquiry to Barry nor an inquiry through the 5K Color Fest website were not returned by press time.