Marketing for Crawfish and Cannons 2020, Inaugural Goodnight-Loving Fun Run approved

Fort Belknap and the Graham Convention and Visitors Bureau got the 4-1-0 approval from the Young County Commissioners as they prepare for the marketing of the April 11 Goodnight-Loving Run and Crawfish and Cannons event at Fort Belknap.

The family-friendly event has been planned and scheduled by Krisa De La Cruz, J.W. Budge and Grant Ingram of the CVB, in conjunction with Fort Belknap and local law enforcement. De La Cruz, Budge and Ingram spoke in front of the commissioners on Monday, Jan. 13 to go over the marketing and sponsorship of the event, including the addition of an alcoholic beverage vendor during the event.

Young County Judge John Bullock voted ‘nay’ on the marketing of the event due to alcohol being served. There were other concerns presented about how fragile the fort, having an increased number of visitors on the property and safety. The CVB addressed some of these by providing a property across the road from the fort that would be used for parking.

Chamber and CVB CEO Krisa De La Cruz, stated they had met with Graham Police, Young County Sheriff’s Office, Department of Public Safety and TxDOT to develop a plan and have officers on site to control the event.

The April 11 event will begin at 6:30 a.m. with runner check-in for the Goodnight-Loving Run and will the event will conlude at 4 p.m. with the Crawfish and Cannons’ concert.

“As the chair of the advisory committee, I can not tell you how enthusiastic I am about the program at Fort Belknap. It’s come a long ways and we continue to overcome a lot of things out there, but we’re able to make a lot of headway out there,” said Mike Sipes, Precinct 1 Commissioner. “So far as hiring the CVB as our marketing arm have done an excellent job so far, I think we are going to continue to do even more. This event here is really a hallmark in what we have discussed about bringing the fort into the limelight and the area that surrounds us.”

The Goodnight-Loving Run was created to bring knowledge and interest to Fort Belknap and the CVB is thankful to be a part of it.

“We have really enjoyed working with you all, and thankful for letting us come here today. (We are) also thankful for letting us be part of this,” De La Cruz said. “One of the things we talked about early on is implementing and accomplishing was key to this event because we saw so much potential in bringing people out to experience the fort.”

For the full story, see the Wednesday, Jan. 15 edition of The Graham Leader.