If you participated in this year’s Shamrock Shuffle, you took part not only in a fun run that benefited parks and youth programs around Lebanon but also in an award-winning event.

Lebanon Recreation and Parks recently announced that they were the 2017 recipients of the New Hampshire Recreation and Park Association’s (NHRPA) Rowland “Kim” Perkins Award for special-event program excellence for the Shamrock Shuffle.

The award was created in 1998 for outstanding special-event programs and named for Kim Perkins, who started his career in recreation in 1958 at Tilton-Northfield.

A few years later, he moved to North Conway and became the community center’s director and served as the NHRPA president for two terms (1964–65 and 1974–75). In addition to his continuing involvement with the NHRPA for over 40 years, Kim was a leader in recreation programming. 

The town of North Conway sponsored some of the larger special events in the state such as the World Mud Bowl and the Volvo Tennis Tournament, in addition to smaller programs such as senior citizen cross-country skiing, hiking programs for teens, and recreation opportunities for all ages, interests, and abilities. Kim led many NHRPA members down new paths through a commitment to creative and innovative programming.

The Shamrock Shuffle was created after someone said to the current director, Paul Coats, “What this community needs is a St. Patrick’s Day Road Race, and the Recreation Department should do it.”

Having started in 2001 and now running for 16 years, the race has become a tradition with a unique twist: It has never repeated the color of the shirt given to participants. Now, the race has a local school challenge to increase participation for youth and families.