FOLEY, Ala. — After being postponed from its original April date, the South Baldwin Chamber Foundation’s Walk This Way fundraiser has been rescheduled for Sept. 12 with a new format featuring an 80s-themed 5K and block party in downtown Foley. The retooled evening event replaces the traditional daytime walk with a celebration built around costumes, music and community fundraising.
Walk This Way: 80s 5K & Block Party will run from 5 to 10 p.m. at Foley Heritage Park on East Violet Avenue. The event combines a festive race, live entertainment and a retro-themed celebration while raising money to support local education initiatives through the South Baldwin Chamber Foundation.
Participants are encouraged to “Lace Up, Dress Up & Party Like It’s 1985” by wearing neon colors, windbreakers, leg warmers and other 1980s-inspired attire. Runners, walkers, skaters and those attending solely for the music and nostalgia are all invited to take part, a structure designed to make the fundraiser as welcoming to casual guests as it is to competitive entrants.
The 5K course will wind through historic downtown Foley and the Rose Trail before finishing at Heritage Park. The route passes through the heart of a city that has spent two decades carefully restoring its downtown core, giving racers a tour of brick storefronts, mature oak trees and the pedestrian-friendly streetscapes that have made Foley’s city center a gathering point for South Baldwin County.
Organizers say costumes are highly encouraged and the event is designed for participants of all experience levels, from those chasing a personal record to those simply enjoying a night out with friends. The evening start time lowers the summer heat that would greet a morning run in early September on the Gulf Coast, and the block-party format keeps the park full long after the finishers have crossed the line. September in South Baldwin still carries humidity, but by dusk the worst of the day’s heat has lifted, and the park’s shade and evening breeze make the hours after the race the pleasantest of the night.
The five-kilometer distance is the most accessible in organized running — just over three miles, manageable for a first-timer with weeks of walking prep, short enough for seasoned runners to treat as a tempo night. That accessibility has made 5Ks the workhorse of Gulf Coast charity fundraising, and the costume theme adds a layer that separates Walk This Way from the region’s crowded calendar of straight fun runs.
From race to block party
Following the race, Heritage Park will transform into an 80s-themed block party featuring live music from 80s cover band Disco Kiss and special guest 80s Condo Queen Kylee Kubat. The celebration will include music, dancing and other retro entertainment, with the band’s set list expected to lean on the decade’s most recognizable hits.
Participants and guests may bring their own beverages to enjoy during the block party, as long as they follow event guidelines and local regulations. Food will be available for purchase from a variety of food truck vendors, giving attendees a full evening’s entertainment without leaving the park grounds.
The block party structure marks a deliberate evolution for the fundraiser. Chamber foundations across the Gulf Coast have moved toward evening, entertainment-centered events in recent years, betting that a concert atmosphere draws younger crowds and larger sponsor turnout than a traditional morning fun run. Foley’s Heritage Park, with its open lawn and downtown setting, offers the kind of venue that format requires.
For those who want to join the celebration without participating in the race, block party-only tickets are available. Tickets are $35 for the 5K run or walk and block party package and $15 for block party admission only. Tickets and additional event information are available through the South Baldwin Chamber Foundation.
The South Baldwin Chamber Foundation hosts the event to support local education initiatives, including programs and projects benefiting schools throughout the region. The foundation operates as the charitable arm of the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, directing proceeds from its events toward classroom grants, school programs and educational projects that public budgets do not always cover.
That mission ties the business community directly to the classroom. Chamber foundations typically fund their grants through a calendar of events — golf tournaments, galas, runs and festivals — with local businesses sponsoring holes, tables and registrations. Walk This Way has been part of that rotation for years, and its 80s revamp is designed to protect the fundraising total while giving the event a fresh identity.
The postponement from April pushed the event from the spring festival season into the heart of Foley’s fall calendar, when the city’s schedule fills with downtown events drawing visitors from across Baldwin County. September evenings along the Gulf Coast bring gradually cooling temperatures, making the 5-to-10 p.m. window manageable for runners and comfortable for block-party guests.
Rescheduling a charity event is never a small undertaking. Sponsors who signed on for the spring date were carried over, registrants were offered the choice of transferring to the new date, and the band, vendors and volunteers had to be rebooked around a late-summer calendar. The foundation’s decision to reformat rather than simply relaunch reflects a wider trend among Gulf Coast fundraisers: if the date must move anyway, use the reset to build the event the community will turn out for.
Foley Heritage Park sits within walking distance of the city’s shops and restaurants along and near Highway 98, and downtown businesses typically see spillover traffic on event nights. Attendees who make a full evening of it can pair the block party with dinner downtown, and out-of-town visitors will find the park an easy landmark on East Violet Avenue just off the main corridor. Parking around the park and on adjacent downtown streets fills as showtime approaches, so early arrivals have the easiest walk in.
How to take part
Registration is open through the South Baldwin Chamber Foundation, and organizers encourage early sign-ups to secure race packets and help with planning. For more information, contact Christy Bledsoe with the South Baldwin Chamber Foundation at [email protected] or (251) 943-1062.
Sponsors and volunteers still have routes into the event as well. Chamber fundraisers run on both: businesses that underwrite the race timing, stage, lighting and vendor fees, and the volunteer crews who staff check-in tables, water stops and the course crossings through downtown. Those details are coordinated through the foundation’s office at the chamber, where Bledsoe handles the logistics list that turns a park into an event venue for a night.
Event-night logistics follow a simple arc: check-in and packet pickup ahead of the start, the 5K winding through downtown and the Rose Trail at dusk, and the block party taking over Heritage Park as the finishers arrive. Guests bringing their own beverages should review the event guidelines posted by the foundation, and food trucks will be positioned around the park for the duration of the evening.
Costume creativity tends to become its own competition at themed runs, and organizers are betting the 1985 theme produces a park full of neon. The decade’s visual language — windbreakers, headbands, leg warmers, bold graphics — translates easily to a 5K, where runners and walkers alike can dress the part without breaking stride. Prizes and recognition for top outfits are common at events of this kind, and the foundation’s promotional push leans hard on the idea that the party is as important as the race.
Disco Kiss, the band headlining the block party, plays the 80s canon that audiences of every age recognize from the first bars — the synth hooks and stadium choruses that turned the decade’s radio into a permanent nostalgia industry. A dedicated tribute act changes the economics of an event like this: instead of a DJ and speakers, the foundation is putting a live band on stage, and the $15 block-party ticket is priced to fill the lawn in front of it.
For South Baldwin County, the evening doubles as a showcase for Foley’s downtown revival. The city has invested steadily in its historic core, and an event that fills Heritage Park on a September night puts those investments on display for an audience that includes visitors from Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Robertsdale and Mobile. Community events of this kind have become part of how South Baldwin markets itself — small-town setting, polished execution, family-friendly by design.
The fundraiser’s cause remains the anchor beneath the nostalgia. Every registration, block-party ticket and sponsorship dollar flows through the chamber foundation into education programs across South Baldwin County, where rapid residential growth has kept school needs rising alongside enrollment. Organizers describe the event’s formula in simple terms: lace up, dress up, party like it’s 1985 — and send the proceeds home to the classrooms that raised the crowd.
Walk This Way: 80s 5K & Block Party runs Sept. 12 from 5 to 10 p.m. at Foley Heritage Park on East Violet Avenue in downtown Foley. Race registration is $35, block party-only admission is $15, and details are available from the South Baldwin Chamber Foundation.
More on the Band, and Event Information
Since 2019, Disco Kiss has entertained Gulf Coast audiences with high-energy, arena rock-style shows packed with iconic hits spanning the 1970s through the 2000s. The band performs five separate shows and is also booked for the National Shrimp Festival on Friday, Oct. 9, at 2 p.m.
For more event information, call 251-943-1200.