Jacksonville's Great Fire Run Set For May 1

Jacksonville FL

08 March, 2021

6:47 PM

Description

From The JAX Chamber: March 8, 2021 The Jacksonville Historical Society is pleased to announce Firehouse Subs will be the title sponsor of the Great Fire Run of 2021, a 5K and 1 Mile race to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Jacksonville's Great Fire. Now, 120 years later, it's time to light a fire under your feet and sign up for the Great Fire Run, to be held Saturday, May 1, 2021. The event begins and ends at Old St. Andrew's Church, 317 A. Philip Randolph Blvd., across from VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. The 5K will start at 7:30 a.m., followed by the 1 Mile Run at 8:30 a.m. To ensure life safety during this time of pandemic, the wearing of masks will be required when not running the race, social distancing encouraged, and no post-race congregating. Sign up at runsignup.com and search for Great Fire Run. Runners who register at least two weeks prior to the event are guaranteed a T-shirt; otherwise, shirts available as supplies permit. The massive conflagration occurred May 3, 1901 when a spark from a kitchen fire ignited piles of drying Spanish moss at a nearby mattress factory. The race will follow the outline of the Great Fire boundary, which began at Davis and Beaver Streets, spread to most of downtown Jacksonville, and was halted by Hogan's Creek, thus sparing Old St. Luke's Hospital, which now houses the Jacksonville Historical Society. Smoke from the Great Fire could be seen as far north as Savannah, Georgia and it took City firefighters until 8:30 that night to get it under control, but not before the 146-block conflagration destroyed 2,368 buildings, left 10,000 people homeless and killed seven residents. For more information about this topic, call (904) 665-0064 or [email protected]. This press release was produced by The JAX Chamber. The views expressed here are the author's own.