Travis McConnell requests permission Friday from the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety for road closures on March 16 for “Shamrock Shimmy,” a 5K run/walk. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — After working through some concerns, the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety on Friday, Feb. 16, approved some road closures for “Shamrock Shimmy,” a community fun run, on March 16.

The road closure request form, submitted by Travis McConnell, states the Shamrock Shimmy will begin at 3 p.m. The fun run is in conjunction with the St. Paddy’s Day event held annually downtown Warsaw. The road closures include Buffalo Street between Center and Main streets for the St. Paddy’s Day event; but also parts of Lake Street for the fun run out to the Fox Farm Road roundabout and to the bridge before Leiter Drive. The road closure for Buffalo Street only is from 8 a.m. to the end of the event, approximately midnight, March 16.

Mayor Jeff Grose told McConnell, “I appreciate you coming into the office days ago, but there maybe some concerns here. But tell us exactly what your desire is.”

McConnell said the Shamrock Shimmy is to coincide with the St. Paddy’s Day event. The closure of Buffalo between Center and Main would be the same request as it’s always been.

“But then we’re looking to add on to the event to have a 5K community run and walk, and we’ve provided a route of that 5K to you. It will start downtown at the tent, go out through the community as much as possible, and then be on Lake Street for a little bit, and then cut through Boggs back on the new Market Street trail from a few years back, and into downtown again,”

McConnell said. “The only potential headache was closing parts of Lake Street. We’re going to have to cross Lake Street downtown, both going out and coming back in, and then when we’re on Lake Street, there will be a temporary lane closure and then the roundabout is going to be a bit of a headache.”

He said event organizers have already met with Warsaw Police Department Captains Brad Kellar and Joel Beam, who are supportive of the event, believe the course is doable and have offered their assistance. McConnell acknowledged that the officers’ hourly rates during the time period of the community run will have to be covered and they’re prepared to do that.

“It’s going to be in partnership with Cloud 9 Multisport and then the businesses downtown. We’ve also already spoken with the businesses downtown about the closures,” McConnell said.

Grose asked if the road closures then were only within the city limits, and McConnell said yes. Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen and Councilwoman Diane Quance pointed out that the roundabout is not within the city limits. Christiansen said there are places along Lake Street that are actually out in the county and she asked McConnell if he’s checked with the county. McConnell said he had not at that point, but he could do that.

Grose said when McConnell came into his office to talk about the event, he didn’t catch that part of the event was not within the city limits, but it was later brought to his attention.

Grose asked McConnell to check with the county on the closures and make sure they’re comfortable with it, and the Board of Works could table the request until the next board meeting. Christiansen said the next board meeting wasn’t until March 1.

Quance asked if the $5 entry fee was to pay for the officers. McConnell said the entry fee was to get into the event tent. Inside the tent, a person could also purchase drink tickets. There is no charge to participate in the run/walk. There will be sponsorship for the day’s events.

City attorney Scott Reust suggested the board could approve the closure of Buffalo between Center and Main regardless, and approval of the race route could be delayed until McConnell checked with the county on it.

Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon told the board, “Joel had contacted me about this as far as the route and how things were going to go. This is going to be a moving target. It’s not going to be full road closures on these. He asked for some cones to be of assistance, and the P.D. was going to take care of helping shut these things down. So, again, this will be a mobile route. It’s not going to be full road closures for a long period of time.”

McConnell said the race probably won’t be more than an hour and they will put a time limit on it.

WPD Chief Deputy Bryan Sherwin told the board, “They’re only going — I think — need the approval for the road closure for here because with the police department, they’ll get with the police department and advise because all we’re going to do is stop traffic as somebody comes through and traffic opens back up. We do it all the time for escorts, schools buses, runs, motorcycles when they do their escorts. All we do is stop that intersection real quick if we see some runners, they get safely through and then it opens right back up.”

Sherwin said McConnell just needed to ask permission on it from the sheriff. By the end of the board meeting, McConnell had permission from the sheriff and the board approved the road closures request.