PEABODY—For those who want the experience of a fun run but wish they could skip the running, there will be an event for you on April 1.
The April Fools’ UnRun will be held in downtown Peabody on Saturday, April 1, from 2 to 7 p.m. The event will feature music from 80 Proof Engine, craft beverages from Tap Truck Kansas, and barbecue from Bill and Essies BBQ.
“It’s all because I’m lazy,” said organizer Pandea Smith of a fun run that skips the running. “I’ve actually wanted to do this for a really long time, 10 or more years. I hadn’t come up with the perfect idea.”
The event serves a few purposes, to raise donations for the Peabody Food Pantry and as a way to celebrate the ribbon cutting for Porcupine Tea Company’s new location in Peabody. Smith owns the tea shop.
“People should come out to support a great cause—the Peabody Food Bank—hear good music, have good things to eat and drink, and have fun,” Smith said.
According to a release, event attendees are encouraged to wear some silly getups and help raise money. Donations of three (or more) non-perishable food items or toiletry items will win participants a $5 gift certificate to Porcupine Tea Company. Cash donations of $10 will merit a gift certificate and a “gold” UnRun medallion.
Smith has operated Porcupine Tea Company since 2019, with it situated in the Mezzanine of Fannie Sterling 1884 Antiques and Vintage for much of the time.
She acquired a building at 215 Walnut Street and hopes to expand the shop and complete its opening by mid-April.
“We’ll start doing lunches, have coffee and tea and beverages,” she said. “My biggest draw is the boba tea.”
Smith said she brought boba tea to the area before it got big when she ran a tea shop in Newton, “The Leaf.” The shop operated from 2011 to 2014 in a downtown space now occupied by an expanded Prairie Harvest.
“I had to close that for personal reasons, and I moved to Peabody,” she said. “Now that I have more space to do what I want to do, it will be a bit more like that.”
The event on April 1 will begin at the shop’s location and a ribbon cutting. Along with food music and beer, there will also be face painting by Color me Co., and desserts by Bloomed BouqCakes.
80 Proof Engine goes on at 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.aprilfoolsunrun.com.
