“Northland Challenge” in Alpena on August 5th

The inaugural Northland Challenge will take place in a couple weeks, a vision that an executive at Northland Area Federal Credit Union in Alpena has had for years.

The event kicks off in a few weeks with a kayak sprint, from Sytek Park to the finish line at Duck Park.

“We actually wanted once we got our headquarters here in Alpena, we wanted to give back to the community, and we learned about the water shed with the Thunder Bay River Center, so we thought it would be a great collaboration for us to work together to just raise some money for that,” said Jennifer Lipps, event coordinator and branch manager with Northland Area Federal Credit Union.

Not only is there a kayak sprint, there is also a carnival taking place at duck park from 10am to 5pm, that includes clowns, food trucks, and a dog race. Jack Pine, a lumberjack show in the Upper Peninsula, will also make the trip down.

“We’re super excited;” said Lipps. “Northland really wants to give back to the community, so we really wanted to make this a community event. So we’re looking forward to everybody coming out.”

The proceeds from this event will also benefit Friends Together, which Northland is proud to help out.

“Friends Together has been able to help them with gas cards or getting them to hospital appointments and stuff, so it’s a really big, huge contribution to the community, and we feel that with Northland, so we want to give back to them for that, we appreciate that,” said Lipps.

It all begins in on August 5th at 9am.