The West Durant Merchants Association had its third annual Westside Christmas on Dec. 13, and the event included a 5K and fun run that morning.
WDMA is a non-profit organization that promotes businesses on the west side of Durant.
Maddison Williams was the coordinator for Westside Christmas.
“This is our third Westside Christmas but we’re starting the morning with our second 5K,” Williams said the morning of the event. “This 5K’s a little bit different route than the Durant community’s used to. We’re running the whole neighborhood back here off Estelle, Westside, Gershwin, so it’s a little bit of a challenging route.”
Before the run started, Sunshine Co. Pilates led runners in stretching.
Other events throughout the day included children’s activities, a jumping Gingerbread and a 35-foot-tall snow slide. Williams said 50 runners signed up and several thousand people were expected to attend Westside Christmas.
“We’re excited just to bring some Christmas cheer to the community,” Williams said.
According to Williams, the Westside Christmas is WDMA’s big event for the year.
“We’ve had over 40 community sponsors come together whether financially, donation of time, donation of tables, kids’ activities you name it have come together to help make this event happen,” Williams said.
WDMA is an organization to bring businesses together in West Durant.
“We formed about three years ago because of the University construction project,” Williams said. “We just needed a voice for the merchants of this side to have communication with the city and so we meet once a month and we’re glad we have a great relationship with the city and our state and local officials.
“They’ll come give us updates at the meetings and we just come together as a group to work together and work on our education. We’ll work with groups like Small Business Development Center. The state senator and state rep will come and give a legislative update. We’ll even talk to people like the city manager (Pam Polk) or (public works director) Phillip Hightower, just to tell us what’s happening in the city.”
