MainStreet to hold events with Heritage Days

The 32nd Annual Roosevelt County Heritage Days festival is set to hit Portales June 17 and 18, and aside from the many activities that the main event will bring, there is an entirely different set of events planned by the Portales Main Street Program.

Main Street will hold three separate events on June 18: The fun run, the poker run, and the downtown takeover, according to Executive Director Sandy Vigil.

A marathon that is in its 16th year in Portales, the fun run originated as a fundraiser to begin the renovation of the Yam Theatre and is still used today to help with improvements on the building. According to Vigil, it will begin at 7:30 a.m., will cost participants $20 and will come with a free T-shirt.

Events will be sorted between a 5k walk, a 5k run and a 10k run and will be separated between male and female as well as age groups.

The poker run will take participants on a slightly longer trek, from Dora to Elida, and then to Floyd, according to Vigil.

“Typically it’s people with motorcycles, but we’re accepting any vehicles. We’re starting registration at 9:30 a.m. here at the Yam, and at 10 a.m., we have our first bike out. That first bike out, and it could be whomever, will drive down to Dora, and they’re going to stop at the Chef’s Kitchen, and they pick a card there. From Dora they’re going to go over to the square in Elida. From the square they’re going to take the back way to Floyd and stop at the community center there. Then they will come back to the Yam,” Vigil said. “Whoever has the best poker hand wins. We’re offering a cash prize for a high hand and a low hand. If they want to pay to get a different card, they can throw darts at the cards to see which card they get.”

The last bike out for the poker run, according to Vigil, will be at 10:45 a.m.

The last MainStreet event in conjunction with Heritage Days will be the Downtown Takeover, which will start at 5 p.m. and run until 10 p.m. at the Stargazer, located on the 300 block of Main Street.

“We’re actually closing off that whole block. At the downtown takeover, we will have five live bands. For that one, the cost is $10. Food vendors will be in the street,” Vigil said.

According to Vigil, Heritage Days is an opportunity for the MainStreet Program to promote businesses downtown.

“We are here to bring recognition to our merchants downtown, and to the activities going on, and so we found that this was an important weekend to provide those activities to our residents and also to visitors,” she said.

Information and registration can be found at portalesmainstreet.com.