MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - The summer season officially began in Meridian Township at the annual Celebrate Downtown Okemos event on Saturday, June 13, 2015. The event took place at the northeast corner of Okemos and Hamilton Roads and lasted all day from 10 a.m. until 11 p.m.

"It's so important to bring the community together, and this started out as a rather small event and over the past six years, it's grown from a few hundred to maybe five to seven thousand last year," said Pat Hagen, Meridian Downtown Development Authority Board Member.

The event offered many activities for all ages, including a 5K race, 1-Mile Fun Run, live entertainment, food from local restaurants, a beer and wine tent, an arts and crafts fair, an inflatable obstacle course, a merry-go-round, a ferris wheel, and a children's activity area.

Live entertainment included performances from youth dancers, as well as the Okemos Community Church Choir, Taylor Taylor, Frog and the Beeftones, Three, Monte Pride II, and Global Village.

Nearly 162 participants lined up for the traditional 5K race (a total of 3.1 miles) on Hamilton Road. The race had runners and walkers start by heading north on Hamilton Road then around Indian Hills Golf Course and it's surrounding neighborhoods before heading back to the finish line.

This year's winner of the 5K race was Livingston Girland from Okemos. Girland shared his passion for running and some words of wisdom for other passionate runners.

"Running takes a lot of discipline. You have to work hard at it to be good, and like it's a very tangible way of being able to put that into other things. In the same way you have to run a lot to be a good runner, you have to practice a lot on your guitar to be a good guitar player," said Girland.

The Meridian Downtown Development Authority Chair, Brian Dale, says that their goal is to "strengthen the relationship between businesses and community members," and that "bringing people into the downtown area for events such as this may encourage business growth and opportunity in the future."