ROCHELLE – The first annual Tyler ‘Smitty’ Smith 5K will take place Sunday to honor the former Rochelle resident and Rochelle Township High School graduate who died last year.
The run will begin at Lincoln School and continue on the bike path half the distance of the 5K, then turn around and come back to finish at the school.
Anyone who registered before Sept. 1 will receive a race T-shirt, a koozie and a ticket to the after-party lunch that will include more than 60 raffle baskets and a silent auction. Those who signed up after Sept. 1 had the option to attend the 5K and lunch without the koozie and shirt for $25, just the lunch for $10 or show up to the after party without lunch for free.  
There will be no awards or ribbons given out and attendees can choose to either walk or run as much as they want. The main goal of this event is not to see how fast someone can complete the run, or even to raise money, but rather to remember the person Tyler was in a positive light.
“We want to do something positive in his name, and that day in particular happens to fall right on the day that he died,” explained Sandra Halsne, Smith’s mother. “Instead of making it something negative or grieving we want to spend time with family and friends, because that is what Tyler loved to do the most.”

While the main goal is not to raise money, all the funds earned through the event will be put into the Tyler Smith Memorial Foundation fund.
This foundation is part of the Rochelle Area Community Foundation and last year was able to give away two $500 scholarships. One day the foundation hopes to be able to give out grants to families of fallen military and police in Smith’s honor.
The goal of event organizers was to sign up 100 people and there are already right around 180, nearly double the goal.
Smith’s family would like to give a big thank you to the community, because it could not have been put together without their help and support.
“I just want to put a big thank you out to the community, we have made a lot of new friends, even strangers that we don’t know, that Tyler knew. We just want to thank everyone for their support and hopefully everyone will enjoy themselves and make good memories about Tyler,” Halsne added.
Race shirts and koozies can be picked up at Lincoln School starting at 7:30 a.m., and the race will begin at 9 a.m. rain or shine. The after party will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Rochelle VFW, with the raffle winners being announced around 4 p.m.
Winners do not need to be at the event to win, so Smith’s family is encouraging everyone to come out, even if they can only stay for a short amount of time.
“If you have to work until 2 p.m. and don’t have time for all of the other things, you can still come down, everyone is welcome. You don’t have to be there to win, so if you can only be there for like an hour [please still come down]. We will draw the names around 4 p.m., and if you are there then great and if you are not, then we have your name and number and we will give you a call,” Halsne said.