News : Annual Benton County Speedway Candy Dash is in full swing

While Mother Nature has been the most unforgiving thing this season for the races at the Benton County Speedway the ladies behind the Candy Dash have been hard at it again. What once was a small event has turned into breaking records and bringing smiles to the kids at the local speedway.

This year's Candy Dash event will be held June 4th and the plan is to toss over 1500 pounds of candy this year. "This is not something we can just put together in a month's time. Often we start collecting donations in September to start getting the best candy deals. If it wasn't for amazing donors and supporters of this event it would never become what it has and we are very grateful for each and every donation we get," said Christine Rublack.

For a few years, Christine Rublack took on the challenge of this event on her own. Two years in, the event had grown to the point where another person was needed and that is when Jessica Kimm joined to make it a two-women crew. "The looks you get when you are pushing 400 pounds of candy through a store is rather priceless," she said.

The duo has been working steadily on gaining donations throughout the year and the big push for final donations has begun as they only have a couple of weeks left before the big day. It's a crazy week leading up to the candy dash. Usually, the night before the event is the "mixing day."

The candy is taken out of the packaging and mixed together. Then it's scooped up and placed into many boxes so that it can be tossed on the track the next day. Rublack states "It's amazing to see how much our local community has stepped up and helped this event grow. When I first began this event there was a small number of amazing supporters and they have stuck with me since day one. Now every year we are gaining more support and it's very humbling to see."

While some might think they are crazy to be tossing that much candy the kids faces are worth every single minute of work that goes into the event. If you have any interest in supporting this event please do not hesitate to reach out.

Check out the "Benton County Speedway Candy Dash" Facebook page. Hope to see you all at the races on June 4th!