On Saturday morning in the upper parking lot of Summit Pacific Medical Center in Elma, volunteers wearing red shirts checked in 5k fun run participants and began setting up the bouncy house and an inflatable obstacle course.

Inside the medical center, vendors were setting up their booths in preparation for the Peak Health Wellness Fair that would follow the fun run. 5k fun run participants, many wearing purple shirts, mingled in the parking lot waiting for the fun run to begin, and some wore caps in keeping with the superhero theme.

This year marked the 9th and 14th year that the Summit Pacific Medical Center has hosted the 5K Fun Run and Peak Health Wellness Fair, respectively. Ashleigh Gleeson, the events and community program coordinator, said that they had 28 external partner booths and 12 internal booths advertising Summit Pacific services.

A new booth this year advertised the podiatry clinic that recently opened, to which Gleeson said there was a demand for this type of care. The Grays Harbor Sheriff had a booth, offering child ID kits for parents. They reached out and asked how we felt about offering this service, Gleeson said, and which she replied, “Yes, we’ll do it.”

Kevin Caserta, the senior medical director of population health, staffed the registration table instead of running the 5K, as he normally does, shared that hosting this event is part of Summit’s focus on health and developing wellness by getting people moving. And in keeping with Summit’s goal of getting kids and families out, the demographic of participants reflected a diversity of ages.

Nathan Hersey, a development specialist with the Summit Pacific Medical Center, served as the master of ceremonies duties and pumped the crowd up for the fun run’s start, encouraging the crowd to shout “woo-hoo” louder.

At 9 a.m., an air horn sent the 5k participants to break into a run or walk out of the parking lot and take a left to head through Elma. A number of dogs on leashes participated too, which was a change made last year.

“It’s great to see people coming out this morning,” Hersey said.

Upon crossing the finish line, many finished beamed in celebration upon completing the 3.1 miles. They could choose to run through a pile of foam, which a number did. Later during the Peak Health Wellness Fair, the foam proved popular with the kids.