The Saturday morning of the 7th Dicks Labor Day Weekend bash, The Mockingbird Foundation held its second annual Runaway Open golf tournament at Buffalo Run Golf Course in Commerce City, CO. It was impressive to see so many Phish fans (44, nearly three times as many as the inaugural event last year in Vegas) get up early to get their golf on for a great cause: music education for children!

I had the pleasure of watching all the golfer’s arrive, help get them set up with their goody bags and drinks, and send them on their way to a runaway golfcart marathon. A special surprise came in the form of an unexpected generous donation of $4,000 to the Mockingbird Foundation from Brooks Blackmon and Matt Garcia, who created the “Is this Still Lawn Boy” shirts after the Jam Filled night of Baker’s Dozen. Incredibly kind, these two gentleman had no intentions of making t-shirts and no expectation for the demand for their product from the Phish community. It’s one of the things that makes the community so unique and special. The Mockingbird Foundation greatly appreciates the donation, as it will help continue to fuel grants.

One of the best feelings was riding around the course seeing not only the players having a blast, but also seeing the staff interact with the players with pure happiness. A staff member commented to me it was the best group of people the course had hosted, and several players who play weekly say it was the most fun they'd ever had golfing! I spoke to a few avid golfers by happenstance on the field at Dick’s who didn’t know about the opportunity. Don’t miss your chance if we are so lucky for Phish to return to Dick’s for Labor Day next year for the 3rd annual Runaway Open Golf Tournament! Huge thanks to all the players, staff and Mockingbird volunteers who made the event happen!

And, courtesy of Buffalo Run Tournament Director Will Panella, here are the tournament results:

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