The History of Mellew Events: This are the stories behind the events

The Texas Half
The Texas Half was created in 2003. The genesis of this event was that we felt there was a need for a winter half marathon in the Dallas area. 2003 was the year before every marathon in the world began to add half marathons to their schedules. What we have built is a fun event that draws about 1000 - 1300. We have always had long-sleeved shirts, good food and drink with excellent finisher medals

The Lady of the Lake Relays
This event was originally called the RockNRelays and was created in 2006. It was not an original name as it is very similar to the rock n roll run name. Their lawyers were only too happy to inform us of that and we were ready and willing to change. We just felt there was a void in the market for team running experiences and this fills the bill.

The Tyler Azalea 10k
This event was once one of the largest 10k events in the United States back in the 80's and 90's, drawing several thousand people from all over the U.S. in its' heyday. It died out in the late 90's. A good friend had moved to Tyler and the talk around town was it was an old friend that everyone missed. So I started it back up in 2001. Tyler is just 80 miles east of Dallas and and although it is a town that is not small, it does have a small town feel. This event benefits our favorite charity, The Children's Village. The important thing is there is no more beautiful place in Texas to run at this time of the year than through the Azalea trail area and the historic homes of Tyler. You actually feel like you are running through a flower garden!

The Big D Texas Marathon
We had such great feelings about The Texas Half that one year later we decided it was time to do a marathon. Ignorance is often a necessary character to embrace as if any forethought had been involved, we may not have gone down this path. But five years later, Big D is getting bigger and better each year. Originally, the event was called the Texas Marathon, because I had gotten the web domain of Texas Marathon.com and could not believe there was not a marathon with that name already. Shortly we learned there was a tiny (100-150) marathon held each year near Houston with that name, so rather than veering from the name we changed it to The Big D Texas Marathon, as our focus really was Big D or Dallas and its' being in Dallas during the beauty of spring bloom. Over the years now no one calls it any other than Big D and we suspect eventually the Texas marathon part will disappear from the name. Big D was also the event where we introduced the concept that we relied on no volunteers. Everyone staffing this event is paid. Mostly we use groups that are raising funds for their charities or church or school groups to manage and staff various areas. This has worked so successfully that we do the same at most of our events. Most people never think that non-runners/walkers are not real crazy about getting up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday or Sunday to "volunteer" for a run. Getting enough Volunteers was always a difficult process.

The Faith Run
This event was started in 2007 and was created because at all my events there was always a great party or side event attached to the run. Over the years, I had been asked many times by Christian runners/walkers about a faith based run. It has been designed to appeal to all faiths and not any one. It is staged in a great venue at a small shopping center in Flower Mound, Texas.

Dadfest
This was originally called The Dad's Day 5k. It was started in the early 90's and was the first run event in the U.S. benefiting prostate cancer. We did not create this event but took it over in its third or fourth year. It was just a run before and we turned it into a big family dad oriented event. In 2008 we will have our 15th anniversary. Very few events make it to that age any longer. We changed the name to Dadfest around 2001 as we did not own the web domain for dadsday5k.com and also there were events with same name in every city in the country. Also it has been our goal and dream to expand this event to daylong event that welcomes all dads and their families, thus Dadfest is a better name. If Mellew was ever to stop producing run events, we would still do this for nothing. It is the event we love the best and anticipate each. It is really a warm fuzzy event and you do not need to be a dad or a big family person to come and enjoy this event

The Hottest Half
This is our new event for 2008. This is an idea that we have kicked around for a year or so. It just seemed to us that that most serious run/walk training was being done during the late spring through the summer. There needed to be an event to kind of be a watermark for where your training is. Also there just aren't many events at all in the summer in the DFW area because people think it is just too hot. We believe that just the opposite is true. If you live here, heat is something you are just used to. Cold we never get used to. The only people who attend races in the winter are the people who attend them all the time and not the general public. We will have a great party and will see where whether it was a good idea or not.

The Freedom Run
This event was created by Mellew and a group of young lawyers that mostly worked in high power downtown law firms. They were members of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers and one of its' members was a serious runner and of course like most serious runners thought it would be great to have a run as one the group's yearly community projects. The conversations started in 2001 and were not going anywhere. Then came September 11 and New York City. Thus the Freedom Run was created. From concept to the first production of the Freedom Run took less than 2 months. Every rule of good planning and event production was thrown aside to get this event started. The first year we staged it at the American Airline center on Veteran's Day in November. Over 2500 attended that first year and it was quite a stirring event. Our run was also the first run staged at AAC as it had just opened that year. We moved to the West End the next year because we wanted to keep the event on September 11 rather than the closest Saturday and we could not get AAC to not book a big event inside on that date. We went back in 2007 because it has become the times square of Dallas and it is just the greatest venue, but each year we try to stay there although we can never get site confirmation until a couple of months before the event. The Freedom Run has benefitted the Dallas Police through the Assist the Officer Foundation and has always been one of our best productions. It is very patriotic and often features great live music on our Freedom stage. Red white and Blue is everywhere. At first we were concerned that the 9/11 event would soon fade into memory, but with the fight against terrorism taking our troops around the globe, it has maintained its relevance to this day. If you have never attended this event, put it on your to do list.

The Vineyard Run
This event started in 2004. There was an event that we produced that preceded it called CAREfest, but when the powers behind that event decided it was too much work for too little money, the Vineyard run began. It is really a unique event in that it starts and ends in an actual Texas vineyard in Grapevine. Now admittedly this particular Vineyard is only several acres in size, but the wine is stored and aged in the great facilities of Delaney Vineyards. This is a rare event venue that if we needed to, we could stage all pre and post race activities inside the Delaney Vineyard building, but we have been blessed with great weather and have never needed it. But hey a run that has a great little Jazz group with free wine tasting never fails to draw and everyone likes the wine glass awards and the free bottles of wine given as door prizes.

The Tyler Half
This event was started in 2007 in Tyler on the campus of UT Tyler. East Texas is really one of the fastest growing areas in Texas and there was void of good distance runs in the area. Although most runners in East Texas are used to driving into Dallas for run events, they were very happy to have one in their back yard.

Cowboys and Kids 5k
This event is produced for The Mesquite ISD Education Foundation and had its inaugural event in 2007. Once again the appeal of this event is the venue. Where else but in Texas and particularly in mesquite can you have a run that starts and ends at the Mesquite Rodeo? Once across the finish line you can actually go into the arena and walk/run with the Mesquite Rodeo Bulls (minus the bull riders). Great fun event!

The Speedway Run
Started in 2006 and produced for Young Life, The Speedway Run is unique in that we actually start and finish in the infield of The Texas Motor Speedway. This is a facility that can accommodate over 100,000 people on NASCAR race day so it is a massive structure. Unless you are a NASCAR fan, most never attend this facility. This is the opportunity to do so. Also although you run out and around the Speedway facility as you start and finish you will experience race cars zooming about the speedway. Nothing like having the roar of engines as you finish.

Past events
Mellew Productions has produced many other great events over the years that for various reasons no longer live or are produced by others.

The Mardi Gras Run
This was the first run created by Mellew. It was however copied from an event in Galveston, Texas in the 1990's. We visited and ran in their Mardi Gras Run there and it seemed like a no brainer for a fun event. Let's see, you run, you toss beads; you have red beans and rice and listen to Zydeco Music. We created the event in 2000 and produced for its' first 4 years. We resigned from the event after that year I guess just because we could. It still exists, but it has never been as large as it was back in the day.

The Swiss Avenue Mile
This was one of several one year events we produced. This event was staged for one year in 2000. The concept was to do a downhill point to point 1-mile run on Swiss Avenue which is lined by great old homes. This event just proved that without significant promotion, most people were not going to pay to run one mile.

Dash Down Greenville
Mellew produced this event from 2001 to 2004. This event that precedes the St Patrick's Day Greenville Avenue parade was a huge event before we took our turn. We thought we could make it even bigger. That did not happen. It is still one of our favorite events, but it works just as well if not better without our involvement. Dash Down Greenville is one of those annual run events that will always have big crowds. It is a great party!

The Elvis Run
Mellew Productions in coordination with United Cerebral Palsy of Dallas created this event in 2001. We produced the event through 2005. We had an agreement from the Elvis estate to use his name on this event. However, they would only license it to a charity like UCP. So when UCP decided they would rather do it without Mellew that was that. It is a great concept. Let see classic car show, a run and ELVIS! It is simple concept that is great fun. The event still exists but without us.

The Half
We produced this event for the Cross Country Club from 2001 through 2006. It was called the White Rock Half Marathon until we took over. We immediately changed the name. The year after we left the club changed it back to the DRC Half Marathon. Most people still call it The Half, but oh well. This event allowed our company to test many things we might not have otherwise. We were one of the first half marathons to have finisher medals. We created the standard for great event shirts. Many other events have followed our trail. The event grew from 2500 to over 4000 during our tenure.

The High Five Run
This was one of those one year events. This was produced for a local charity in 2002 and was staged in the area at the intersection of LBJ Freeway and Central Expressway. The name came from the fact that at this time a huge freeway intersection was being built in this corner and because there were five high bridges being built, the area to this day is called the High Five Area. We learned that if a charity gets enough sponsors, it makes no difference how many come. It ended after one year because the charity preferred to stage a pledge walk instead.

The Barking Fish 5k
Staged for 2 years in 2002 and 2003, it began out of a coalition with two Rows, Mellew and Run-On with the concept being if Dash Down Greenville was big why not another event. This was a summer party event and the name was drawn from a beer created by Two Rows Brewery. The plug was pulled after two years because it never got the entry numbers of Dash.

The Oktoberfest 10k
This was another try to create another Dash event. We figured Oktoberfest in October with a 5k and 10k (which there are very few) would draw big. This did not happen. It was staged the same two years as the Barking Fish.

Run for a Better World 5k
This event was hopefully going to be our Mother's Day event. We staged it in 2003 and 2004. It never drew very many people and ended because the charity supporting it closed down and no longer exists.

The Chili Run
This was another one year event. Back in the 90's the restaurant, Chili's had a huge race called the Chili Run in Irving. This was our attempt to bring it back with a chili cook-off. We were not Chili's and there were many good reasons why this was a one year event.

The Vampire Run
This was another great one year event. Mellew Productions nearly went bankrupt with this one. We had this great idea. How about a Halloween run on a Friday night in the West End in Dallas. Let's have a great live band with free beer. Let's have over $5,000 in costume prizes. Let's lose lots of money when only 250 show up. I can testify that all 250 that attended that night still tell me it was one of the greatest run events they had ever attended.

Feed the Need 5k
Oops another one year event. This one got started because the charity rep worked in the office building when we staged the High Five Run and thought he wanted to have one too. Oops

The Darren Woodson Run
Yes this was a run that featured Dallas Cowboy great Darren Woodson. It was staged in 2006 in The Colony. There were many reasons why this event was not successful, but mostly it did not make any money for the charity. Darren Woodson is one of nicest guys, however.

The Canton 4-Mile
This event was staged in Canton just east of Dallas in 2005 and 2006. We thought this would do well because it was close enough to Dallas and it virtually had no event costs. It was a great small town event. The organizers got a bit bored with it all and decided it was not worth the effort, but we will always love small town runs.

The Future
Mellew Productions is always planning new events and hope to introduce at least one new event every year. We have lots of event ideas in the books so who knows what one year event we will create next.

Soon Mellew Productions will produce their 100th event since its inception