Originally airing Friday, Oct. 5, 2016.

The 2016 Lucy Town Half Marathon and 5K race will take place Oct. 8 and 9 in Jamestown, NY. (Image courtesy of www.LucyRace.com)

WRFA Public Affairs Director Jason Sample talks with Journey Gunderson, executive director of the National Comedy Center and Lucy Desi Museum about the 2016 Lucytown Half Marathon & 5K. Gunderson provides details of the event, including registration information as well as details on the headline performer, Tammy Pescatelli.

Both the 2016 Lucy Town Half Marathon and Univera Kids 2K will take place on October 9. In addition, the Lucy Town 5K will take place on October 8. The race weekend is held annually in Lucille Ball’s hometown of Jamestown. For the fourth consecutive year, Univera Healthcare is the presenting sponsor for the weekend’s events.

The Lucy Town Half Marathon & 5K race weekend has attracted participants from across the country annually since its creation in 2013, including both elite runners and Lucy fans alike. The inaugural year was headlined by Martin Short, and during the 2014 race weekend paid tribute to the iconic I Love Lucy grape stomping scene as 1,232 people set a new world record for most people treading grapes.

The weekend is a program of the National Comedy Center, which also produces the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival and operates the year-round Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum.

In addition to the races, comedian Tammy Pescatelli will be appearing in Jamestown for a performance at the Willow Bay Theater on October 8.

Arguably one of the hardest working women in comedy today, Tammy Pescatelli’s most recent one-hour special, the top downloaded, Finding The Funny (available on Netflix & iTunes) is just one of her new and noteworthy endeavors. Tammy brings brassy sexiness with a female voice of witty sarcasm to her audiences, holding her own on the topics of sports, television, dating and family life using tongue-in-cheek humor. She has had recent appearances on The View and The Howard Stern Show and was chosen by Jenny McCarthy & Donnie Wahlberg to be a part of their Dirty, Sexy, Funny franchise that included a hilarious all-female slate of standup comedians comedy special on EPIX/Hulu, a touring show and a pilot for A&E.

Tickets to the October 8th performance ($17.50) are now on-sale by calling 716.484.0800, or visiting www.lucyrace.com. Registration information on the 2016 Lucy Town Half Marathon is also available by visiting www.lucyrace.com.

Greg Selke, 25, of North Chili and Trisha Byler, 31, of Rochester were the top male and female runners for the 13.1-mile half marathon that took place Sunday morning. For full results, photos, and information on next year’s event, visit www.lucyrace.com.

The Lucy Town Half Marathon & 5K race weekend has attracted participants from across the country annually since its creation in 2013, including both elite runners and Lucy fans alike.

The inaugural year was headlined by Martin Short, and during the 2014 race weekend, Jamestown welcomed comedian Bob Newhart and paid tribute to the iconic I Love Lucy grape stomping scene as 1,232 people set a new world record for most people treading grapes.

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The 2015 Lucy Town Half Marathon and 5K race will take place Oct. 10 and 11 in Jamestown, NY. (Image courtesy of www.LucyRace.com)

The Lucy Town Half Marathon and Univera 5K is taking place this weekend in Jamestown, NY and the weather forecast appears to be near-perfect weather for the event. The forecast is calling for Sunny weather throughout the weekend, with temperatures in the upper 50s on Saturday for the 5K race and kids 2K race and in the low to mid 60s for Sunday’s half marathon.

The event is being organized by the National Comedy Center and Lucy-Desi Center. Executive Director Journey Gunderson said the two races were created in 2013 and designed to not only promote Lucille Ball’s Hometown, but also provide a healthy and active way to do it.

“I think the catalyst for it was Lou Depas (from our board of directors) and and Dave Reinhardt (formerly of Chautauqua Striders and who now operates races as an independent contractor),” Gunderson told WRFA during a recent interview [listen]. “They’ve witnessed great races in other communities and saw the impact that it had, and we were looking to expand our year-round programming, in terms of comedy, so we thought let’s join forces, let’s put something together that gives people a couple of reasons to come to Jamestown.”

Gunderson says that so far registration for both races is doing well, adding that there is still time for participants to register if they haven’t already done so.

JOY BEHAR AT THE REG LENNA SATURDAY NIGHT

The weekend of events will also include a performance by nationally known television host and long-time stand up comedian Joy Behar, best known for her work on The View.

Joy Behar

Behar told WRFA during an interview earlier this week that its an honor to be performing in Lucille Ball’s hometown.

“I grew up with Lucy, like a lot of people and I basically couldn’t go to sleep until her show was over,” Behar said. “It’s interesting that the show is still on the air. People can still see that that comedy has held up over the years… I think she’s in the top five greats. Charlie Chaplin, Lucille Ball -those are the names that I think hold up for over a century.”

Behar also says she thinks having a National Comedy Center in Jamestown is something that will be a success.

“Cooperstown seems to do okay with the Baseball Hall of Fame, and then the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland seems to do well,” Behar said, adding, “Not everybody can always come to New York City. There are places you want to visit in this country. So I think [the Comedy Center] is sort of a destination for people and I think it will work.”

Behar will be performing at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts on Saturday night. Tickets are still available for the show by calling the Reg Lenna box office at 716.484.7070 or visiting www.lucyrace.com.

To register for either race, visit www.lucyrace.com for race registration and additional information.

The event will not only feature a half marathon on Sunday, Oct. 11, but will also involve a 5K and Kids 2K event on Oct. 10. Plus there will be a live stand up comedy performance by television talk show host and comedian Joy Behar. Her performance will take place on Saturday night at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts.

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Lucy Desi Center director Journey Gunderson says that preregistration for the race, now in its third year, is the best they’ve seen yet, meaning there will likely be a record number of participants in what has quickly become one of the area’s most popular running competitions.

In addition to participating in the race, Gunderson is also encouraging the community and visitors to attend the stand up comedy show featuring Behar. Gunderson says that some may not realize that Behar made her living as a stand-up comedian for 15 years before moving to television.

Joy Beher

“She was a comedian before she was a television personality and that is something we want to celebrate,” Gunderson told WRFA in an Oct. 2 interview. “She’s somebody who has made a living as a stand up comedian – which is not an easy thing to do, and was so popular that mainstream television plucked her and said we want you to be in viewers’ homes daily as a host, and apply that off the cuff humor. And of course we love funny redheads here in Jamestown.”

Behar has received an Emmy award for her performance on “The View”, where she was a member of the cast for 16 years.

Registration information for the race or ticket information for the Joy Behar show can be found online at LucyRace.com or by calling 716.484.7070.

Joy Baher

JAMESTOWN – A nationally known daytime TV talk show host will be coming to Jamestown in October.

On Tuesday the National Comedy Center and the Lucy-Desi Museum announced announced that comedian Joy Behar will perform on Saturday, October 10 during the third annual Lucy Town Half Marathon & 5K race weekend.

The performance will take place at 8 p.m. at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts.

Behar made her living as a stand-up comedian for 15 years before moving to television. She’s received an Emmy award for her work as a co-host on “The View”, where she was a member of the cast for sixteen years. She has hosted her own talk shows, “The Joy Behar Show” on CNN’s HLN and “Say Anything” on Current TV, and was a frequent substitute host on “Larry King Live.” She’s also appeared on numerous television shows and in major motion pictures.

Past performers for the Lucy Half Town Marathon, now in its third year, include Martin Short in 2013 and Bob Newhart in 2014.

In addition to Behar’s appearance on Oct. 10, the 2015 Lucy Town Half Marathon will take place on Sunday, October 11. The Lucy Town 5K and Univera Kids Run will each take place on October 10.

Tickets for Baher’s show will go on-sale to members of the Lucy-Desi members and registered runners today at noon by calling the Reg Lenna box office at 716.484.7070 or visiting www.lucyrace.com.

Tickets will go on-sale to the general public on Wednesday, August 26 at noon.

Tonight’s meeting has a fairly light agenda. Highlighting the voting tonight will be the legislature acting on allocating funding from the county’s 2015 bed tax proceeds for three off-cycle projects.

Those projects include the Lucy Town Half Marathon and 5K in Jamestown, which will receive $8,060. The Chautauqua Gran Fondo Cycling Tour, which will receive $6,680. And the Chadwick Bay Bike Run in Dunkrik, which is set to receive $3,600.

A complete agenda for tonight’s voting session can be found at the legislature’s website. Tonight’s meeting begins at 6:30 and is open to the public.

According to an article in the Post-Journal, committee members Thursday discussed using proceeds from the county’s bed tax to fund the creation of the National Bigfoot Center.

Funding for the project – which is being spear-headed by Peter Wiemer, owner of We Wan Chu Cottages and organizer of the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo – was suggested by the county’s Tourism Review Panel. However, the review panel made funding to the National Bigfoot Center contingent upon proof of the project’s viability.

The proposed $4 million project aimed to utilize property near the Interstate 90 exit in Ripley. The project requested the maximum $10,000 from the occupancy tax fund for 2015 and 2016.

Projects that would be awarded funding (all under $10,000) would be the Lucy Town Half Marathon and 5K, Chautauqua Gran Fondo Cycling Tour, and the Chadwick Bay Bike Run.

Lawmakers said they didn’t feel enough information was available to them to prove the Bigfoot Center project was viable, and suggested Wiemer return next year and request the funding again.

Not everyone was in favor of encouraging the Big Foot project to return next year and ask for funding. County legislator and Audit and Control committee chairman John Runkle (R-Stockton) said if approved, it would be the most ridiculous appropriation of taxpayer dollars he has ever seen his entire life.

The Lucy Town Half Marathon & 5K race weekend has attracted participants from 31 states annually since its creation in 2013, including both elite runners and Lucy fans alike. During the 2014 race weekend, Jamestown welcomed comedian Bob Newhart and paid tribute to the iconic I Love Lucy grape stomping scene as 1,232 people set a new world record for most people treading grapes. Martin Short headlined an evening of comedy during the 2013 inaugural year.

The Lucy Town 5K and Kids 2K will take place on October 10th, and the third annual Lucy Town Half Marathon will take place on October 11th.

For race registration information, visit www.lucyrace.com.

The USATF certified half-marathon course begins and ends in downtown Jamestown, and runs through the neighboring towns of Lakewood and Celoron. The course travels near the childhood home of Lucille Ball, the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum, the world’s largest I Love Lucy mural created by artists Gary Peters Jr. and Sr., and the Lucille Ball Memorial Park.

Univera Healthcare is the presenting sponsor for the weekend’s events.

Lucy Town organizers are still seeking groups or individuals to serve as event volunteers. No running experience necessary as there are a wide variety of roles needed for the weekend event. Positions may be available for a wide array of skills and interest, ranging from registering athletes and distributing information, to providing course side refreshments at water and food stations. For information on becoming a volunteer, visit www.lucyrace.com.