IRVINGTON — Runners and walkers who regularly participated in the annual Pleasant Run Run (PRR) 5-mile run and 3-mile walk in the Irvington neighborhood of Indianapolis through the years are likely to remember something that set the race apart from all other running events in the community — the colorful PRR posters, T-shirts and winner plaques.
At 1 p.m. Oct. 14 at the Bona Thompson Memorial Center in Irvington, the Irvington Historical Society will open a month-long exhibit of Garry Petersen’s PRR collection, which dates from 1983 to 1998, the year after Petersen officially handed over full PRR organizational responsibilities to Tuxedo Brothers. The exhibit runs through mid-November at the Bona Thompson Memorial Center, 5350 University Ave.
Petersen was a firm believer of posters to help promote a cause, and not just the PRR, and donated proceeds each year to the Marion County Children’s Guardian Home in Irvington. (The home, which cared for homeless, abused and neglected children, was founded in 1898 and cared for needy children until closing about seven years ago.)
After Petersen died last September at the age of 64, his family donated the PRR poster and plaque collection to the Irvington Historical Society. They handed the Arbor Day and urban forestry poster collection to the Indiana State Library.
