Despite a gray and drizzly morning, dozens of Carbon County's flower children turned out forthe fourth annual Hippie 5K Run/Walk at the D&L Trail Lehighton Trailhead on Saturday.

"We had an awesome turnout today, I think we broke a record with about 120, or 125 people," Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corporation's director of economic development Kathy Henderson said.Proceeds for the event along the Lehigh River, which drew a large crowd in the midmorning, will be applied to a scholarship fund at the CCEDC, which helped organize the event."We raise money for our scholarship fund at the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development. Our Business Education Partnership offers a scholarship to graduating high school seniors, at all five of the high schools in our county, and CCTI. They have to be either in an FBLA program or a business-related curriculum. Upon graduation they have to be going into post secondary education relating to business," Henderson said.Any applicants for the scholarships also had to volunteer, walk or run in the event.Community sponsors included Lehigh Carbon Community College in the "Happy Hippie" sponsorship level, R.F. Ohl and Andreas Plumbing in the "Peace" level, the Honorable Judge William Kissner and First Northern Bank in the "Far Out" category and top contributors Mauch Chunk Trust and Coordinated Health in the "Psychedelic" level.Lehigh Carbon Community College runners and walkers came out in droves to encourage student participation and community involvement."We have faculty, staff and students participating. We try to do student activities and connect the activities with community events, so the students see the relevance of the activity. No matter what your skill level was, it was a good event to participate in," Larissa Verta said.Lehighton residents Mike and Alissa Muffley have been doing the walk since it began, bringing their giant Irish Wolfhounds along to expel some energy."We're out all the time exercising, running, and going out for hikes," Muffley said. "This is a great thing for a community. It gets people together, it brings out awareness for the Chamber of Commerce. It makes a well-knit community."Participants had access to a nice spread of granola bars, cookies, bagels and coffee to enjoy thanks to local businesses, including The Bagel Bunch.No matter what level of physical activity participants preferred, the 5K made for a perfect opportunity to hit the ground running for charity."You have not just the people who are really serious runners, you have the people who just like to go out and jog, and you have people in families who just want to walk, get some exercise as a family, spend some time together on the beautiful D&L Trail, and help raise money for a good cause at the same time," Henderson said.