The city of Kimberly has seen a few changes over the past year, which has improved the lives of its residents.
Most notably, it is now home to Mortimer Jordan High School, which has served local students for decades. The school moved from its old campus in Morris — the school property was literally next to the Kimberly city-limit line — to a sparkling new facility off Bone Dry Road.
“It’s the first time that Kimberly has had all grades of schools within the city,” Mayor Bob Ellerbrock said.
The fire department upgraded its service, partly as a result of the new school. Paid firefighters now staff the station during daytime hours, improving response times over the previous all-volunteer force. (Volunteers continue to serve during the rest of the day.)
The Kimberly Senior Center remains popular with residents, and will see a big addition sometime very soon when it gets a new van to transport seniors to events.
“That van is due any day now,” Ellerbrock said. “We’re waiting on them to drive up and hand us the keys.”
The city park remains home to the North Jefferson Soccer Club, which continues to grow in numbers, fielding teams in both the fall and spring soccer seasons.
But perhaps Kimberly’s biggest event ever is coming this fall, as it plays home to a stop on the nationwide Warrior Dash tour at The Hitchin’ Post facility. That event, in which runners traverse a course which can best be described as a cross between a high school cross-country five-kilometer run, an extreme version of a military obstacle course and an outdoor rock concert, makes its debut on Oct. 7.
“They [event organizers] won’t even go to somewhere where they won’t draw 5,000 runners,” Ellerbrock said. “They already have more than 4,000 registered now.”
The Warrior Dash organizers, a production company from Chicago, chose Kimberly over sites at Barber Motorsports Park near Leeds and Gray Rock ORV Park near Mt. Olive. Organizers expect the event to draw more than 10,000 people.
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