Local runners can register for an event that represents and celebrates the police officers who serve our country on a daily basis.

Those who have fallen protecting the communities in which we live will also be commemorated at the second annual Officers Down 5K & Community Day in Lehighton.The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 9 at 243 S. Eighth St.Race time is 10 a.m. The cost is $45 per runner, plus a $3 sign-up fee.There will also be a 1-mile walk, at a cost of $25, plus a $2.50 sign up fee; at 10 a.m., a half-mile kids fun run, at a cost of $20, plus a $2.50 sign up fee, at 9:30 a.m.; and a Virtual 5K runner/walker, at a cost of $30, plus a $2.50 sign up fee, at 9:30 a.m.A community day has been added to the event, and will include lunch, live music from The Tavern Dogs Band and DJ Layne Doc, inflatable bouncers, activities and much more.This year's event will benefit the Lehighton Police Department, Bethlehem FOP Lodge 20, and Hounds on Working Leashes.Events director T.J. Burke founded the Officers Down 5K in 2011, two years after he began his law enforcement career in 2009.Burke said he wanted to bring the community together on "just a day" to support those in blue rather than wait until an officer was killed in the line of duty.Event manager Nikki Nothstein said she wanted to bring the event to the area because it is personal to her on many levels.Nothstein's husband is a local full-time police officer who participates in an annual ride to benefit fallen officers, which terminates in Washington, D.C. during National Police Week."It's great to participate in and witness," Nothstein said. "It's the only event I know of, and it's quite a distance from our area."Nothstein added, "I thought it would be nice to have something locally, and not only to honor the memory of our officers, but to also show appreciation and support.""They have unappreciated jobs, and it would be nice to show them we support them," she said. "In addition, they get to participate in something with their families, meet other police families, and the public could see them for the people they are and not the stereotype the media portrays."