We're really looking forward to the Kansas Relays and the elite shot put event that takes place downtown tomorrow. The lines have been drawn on the street, and tomorrow morning they'll start setting everything up.
Here's a little bit about what will happen:
- The competition begins at 6 p.m. There's a field of eight throwers, who are all ranked in the top 25 in the world. The fact that these guys are elite professionals makes us feel a little better about the safety of our patrons. And our windows.
- The shot put weighs 16 pounds. Some of you could probably barely lift that, let alone throw it 70 feet.
- The event requires 18 dump-truck loads of crushed limestone so that the shot put doesn't break the street. We're kind of intrigued to see how long it takes to haul all of that away.
- There will be beer in the street. We'll be selling canned beer for $3 and Shark Attacks for $4. You still have to be 21 to drink and be prepared to show two forms of ID.
- Our friends from Richards Music next door have a band, and they'll be playing some music outside after the shot put event.
- We're also hosting a monthly Lawrence Tweetup tomorrow night, so there will be lots of folks on their smartphones, tweeting and Facebooking.
We're excited to see how this event goes! What a great event for downtown Lawrence. Apparently, this is the first time a shot put competition has been held on city streets in the United States. We're hoping for a great turnout so that Kansas Relays will continue bringing events downtown.
*Some of the details in this post were provided by this article on KUSports.com.