LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Entrepreneur and race organizer Ken Rubeli isn't shy about his affinity for the Christmas season.
"I listen to Christmas music in March," Rubeli said Friday evening at Gilcrease Orchard, which was the site of the first "Rudolph's Runderland Experience" event.
The holiday-themed 5K run and "Reindeer Stroll" featured lights, inflatables, audio experiences and, yes, snow machines.
No stranger to organizing run/walk events, Rubeli wanted to put something on that offered something for the blind community.
"It's really meant to be an event that's just so inclusive that, if you happen to be a person who is blind or deaf, you'll be like 'wow, this is really cool,'" Rubeli said.
Havander Davis, who experiences visual impairment, said he had a great time walking the one-mile course, which featured audio recordings from radio personality Chet Buchanan and Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman.
"All the talking parts, it was really blind-friendly," Davis said. "That was exciting for us. It was a wonderful experience."
The event was the first of a series of sensory-enhanced experiences Rubeli plans to put on in the coming months. The next, he said, will come during his "Bee-utiful Sunflower Run," which will take place in May at the orchard.
"I think we're the first in the country to do these types of races," Rubeli said. "People are going to see us do sensory enhanced races all the time."
As a celebratory gesture, Beyond Limits Running, the organization Rubeli and his wife, Stephanie, founded, donated $20,000 to the Blind Center of Nevada to mark Friday's inaugural run.
