Coal City’s annual Fall Fest brought thousands to Broadway Street on Saturday for a cruise night, games, rock climbing, live music, and the annual Megan’s Mission 5K.

Old vehicles and food trucks lined the road, and the Megan’s Mission 5K took off from Babe’s Tap.

The Megan’s Mission 5K set a record for participants, with over 500 runners hitting the starting line to head south of town on Broadway.

The Megan’s Mission Foundation hosts the 5K annually, and all proceeds raised by the foundation go toward supporting childhood cancer research at the Megan Bugg Global Rhabdomyosarcoma Research Laboratory at the Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute in Portland.

Megan Bugg, for whom the foundation is named, was a Coal City resident and the daughter of Kent Bugg, a retired Coal City Unit 1 superintendent. Megan was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma at 13-years-old. From that day, she made it her goal to end childhood cancer. She passed away on March 9, 2022, according to an article in the Morris Herald-News, but her mission carries on to this day. The Megan’s Mission Foundation has now raised over $2.5 million to raise awareness and fight childhood cancer.

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Runners take off for the Megan's Mission 5K on Saturday, Sept. 13, which had a record 500 runners. (Michael Urbanec)