Valparaiso’s Color Fun Run Brings Affordable Family Fun

Color exploded across the field at Thomas Jefferson Middle School as hundreds gathered for the annual Valpo Parks Color Fun Run with the Mayor’s Youth Council. This vibrant community tradition brings Valpo residents and their families together for an evening of active fun.

The fun run is supported by the Mayor’s Youth Council, a program that gives students an opportunity to take an active role in their local government. The fun run gives students on the Council a chance to put the skills they’ve learned into action.

“For this particular event, we have students from the Mayor’s Youth Council teaming up with the Parks Department to think through different obstacles on the course, the different entertainment activities before and after the race, and how to really make it better and better each year. It’s great to get youth involved in what kind of activities they’d like to see, or what they would have imagined when they were younger,” Maggie Clifton, Community Engagement Director for the City of Valparaiso, said.

The Color Fun Run was created to give Valpo residents something affordable and fun to do with their families. Since its debut in 2022, it’s become a tradition that the city, parks department, and participants all look forward to as the weather warms up.

“We see that there’s a demand to have family friendly outdoor activities, and this is something that we’ve had a really good response to, with over 300 people coming out each year to participate. The demand really keeps us coming back to offering this, and the Parks Department does a great job, year round, of providing affordable, family friendly events,” Clifton said.

In addition to the 1.5-mile run, attendees had a variety of activities to participate in before or after their race. A bounce house and face painter let kids work out their energy and paint their faces to match their shirts, while a live DJ and yard games offered plenty of opportunities to kick off the weekend fun. On-site food vendors had plenty of local favorites on hand to keep energy up.

The Color Fun Run truly is a community effort. From organizing the event to getting vendors to encouraging participation, each step of the way requires collaboration.

“The Mayor’s Youth Council had a brainstorming session with the Parks Department to come up with new attractions like the color station here, which provides an opportunity for participants to color their shirts, their bibs and a jumbo coloring page. They also came up with a new obstacle, with Limbo this year. A big role for the Council is providing the volunteers to pull off an event at this scale, we have about 40 volunteers and they’re all students,” Clifton said.

As runners navigated obstacles and painted their shirts with colorful powder, the Mayor’s Youth Council got to enjoy their moment of success as they closed out their school year.

“It’s pretty rewarding. It seems like everyone’s having fun enjoying it all. It just feels good because we came up with some of the ideas,” said Avary Schwarzkopf . “I think if you have the opportunity to be in the Mayor’s Youth Council, if you’re Junior, definitely take it, because I learned a lot, and I had a lot of great experiences with my classmates.”

Learn more about the Mayor’s Youth Council, including how to apply for the 2026-27 school year, online. Applications are due by May 29, 2026.

Learn more about the City of Valparaiso at ci.valparaiso.in.us.