ORLANDO, Fla. — The annual CommUNITY Rainbow Run will take place in downtown Orlando on Saturday ahead of the 10-year mark next week since the mass killings at Pulse nightclub.

The race, 4.9 kilometers long to honor the 49 lives lost, begins outside Orlando City Hall. Participants will run down Orange Avenue, past Orlando Health and toward the site of the former Pulse nightclub. They will then turn east on Ester Street to Delaney Avenue and make their way back to City Hall.

Registration and the CommUNITY Festival begin at 6 a.m. The run starts at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 10 a.m. 

A group of UCF graduate students started the event in 2017 to mark one year after the shooting with the goal of using community, connection and collective strength to help the healing process.

Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan, who represents District 4, said the city is expecting 2,000 people to attend this year and 38 families are participating.

“Our city events people are incredible. They’ve done such a good job,” Sheehan said. “They’re amazing at special events and putting events on at City Hall, and I’m really glad it’s going to be at City Hall. We’re running down to Pulse. We’re going to be going through the neighborhoods a little bit, so I think it’s going to be a really fun run.”

The CommUNITY Rainbow Run helps the city fund the permanent memorial that is planned for the former Pulse site. City staffers and the Pulse Memorial Advisory Committee last month shared a 60% design update. Construction is expected to begin in the fall.

The run is about continuing to foster unity in Orlando, Sheehan said.

“This is about bringing everyone together in love. One of the things I’m so proud of — my city and Orlando — was the way everyone came together,” Sheehan said. “Even very conservative people who hadn’t supported the LGBTQ+ community supported us. They came forward. They helped raise money. Restaurants, businesses, they lit their businesses in rainbows.”

The Orlando Police Department confirms officers will work the event.

Runners can pick up their race packets on Friday between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. by visiting Track Shack, 1104 North Mills Avenue. For those who cannot pick up early, day-of registration and packet pickup will be available from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Saturday.