The fee is payable to the Sioux Falls Parks & Rec and you get a free T-Shirt. Not sure why you would have to pre-register and pre-pay for a publicly endorsed run, especially on Independence Day? It is all to gather information on the citizens. This administration has been doing a heckuva of a job over the past 4 years making citizens RSVP and pre-register for public events and meetings, and it is wrong. You should NEVER have to RSVP or pre-pay for a public event. I encourage you to just show up and participate. It’s being held on public property and no one should force you to pay a FEE to walk on a taxpayer owned bike trail.
I have suspected one of the reasons the mayor and his council endorsements were so successful this past election is because the campaigns have been using the data the city has collected by cross referencing it with voter registration and Facebook followers. There was a reason the other candidates got their asses kicked, they didn’t have access to this data.
The crazy part is I don’t even know if this illegal in the State of South Dakota.
Oh, and the FREE lunch is now for only 3,000 people instead of 5,000 and instead of a pork sandwich we get a hot dog. Someone told me it is likely we no longer have a sponsor for the FREE lunch and this money is likely going towards that.