The New Holland Farmer's 5K is now officially two decades old. "This is the 20th," said Traci Tempone, Garden Spot High School (GSHS) cross-country team coach. The run has always raised funds for the GSHS cross-country booster club, which supports both the GSHS team and the Garden Spot Middle School team. The 5K is known for the relative ease of the course it offers in the area just south of New Holland. "The Farmer's 5K is a nice, flat race," said Tempone. Past races have been held in April, but this year organizers decided to move the run to June to avoid conflicting with other foot and bicycle races, holidays, and students' spring sports schedules.

The 2025 Farmer's 5K will be held on Saturday, June 7, beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the New Holland Community Memorial Park, in the 400 block of Jackson Street. Registration and packet pickup that day will begin at 7 a.m. Registration will conclude at 8:15 a.m. A free Kids Half-Mile Fun Run for children age 12 and under will be held following the 5K. Each participating child will receive a ribbon. "We have medals for the top boy and girl age 8 and under and the top boy and girl between age 9 and 12," said Tempone. Parents are encouraged to run with their children.

The 5K route will follow Jackson Street east to Ranck Road, where it will turn right. Participants will turn right again at Airport Road and again at Windsock Way before picking up Runway Avenue and returning to Airport Road. Runners will once again turn right to follow Kinzer Avenue north, which will take them back to a right on Jackson to the park.

Cash prizes are awarded to the first three overall male and female winners, with the top prize being $100. Course records are 15 minutes, 20 seconds for men, set in 2023 by David Lutgen, and 18:12 for women, set in 2012 by Aimee Taylor. In addition, the top male and female runners in eight age groups, which are 14 and under, 15 to 19, 20 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, 60 to 69, and age 70 and over, will receive awards. In keeping with the cow logo of the event, glass milk bottles from a local dairy will be given to age group winners. "We still (give out the) glass milk bottles," said Tempone. "It's unique."

Over the time the race has been run, the number of participants has varied. "It would be great to get 100 runners this year," said Tempone, who hopes to raise at least $2,000 for the booster club. Funds raised by the event help to cover warmup gear for freshman cross-country runners along with other team expenses. "We get a T-shirt for each team member, and (the funds) help pay for invitational (meets)," noted Tempone. "Those are a big cost for us," she stated, adding that the booster club pays for many invitational weekend meets for both the high school and middle school teams.

Runners who would like to take part in the race may register at http://www.active.com by searching for "Farmer's 5K." Free T-shirts for runners who register on the day of the event will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. More information about the race may be found at https://sites.google.com/view/gsxc/farmers-5k.