Rudy Huber knew that he needed to do something to help Lahaina after the Aug. 8 wildfires resulted in the cancellation of the 21-year-old Front Street Mile, perhaps forever.

Huber, the race director for several road races on Maui including the Front Street Mile, came up with a plan for the Lahaina Strong Keiki Mile Run/Walk for charity that will take place at the Kaanapali Golf Courses on Sept. 30 from 8 to 10 a.m.

“All fees go to the Maui Strong Fund,” Huber said. “We kind of wanted to do something. People were asking me, ‘Oh, are you going to do something now that your (Front Street Mile) event is no longer happening?’ I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do something that would help the community that got displaced.

“So, this was the perfect opportunity. You know, we’re kind of doing the whole youth cross country thing right now, too. So, (we thought) it’d be cool to do something like this for the community.”

Huber was reminiscent about the Front Street Mile that developed over the years. The first sub-4-minute mile on Maui was run in the event early on in its inception, and it grew to become a staple on the Valley Isle sports calender, especially for youth runners.

This year’s edition had been scheduled for Saturday.

“It would have been our 22nd year this coming weekend,” Huber said Thursday. “So, we had been planning it leading up to August and we had good entries coming in. We even had some elite athletes that were going to come out as well.

“But you know as well as I, this event is mostly a kids’ race. We bring in anywhere from 650 to 800 kids from all around the island, even some Mainland (kids) as well. It’s always been like that.”

Huber said the event was a winner from the beginning.

“Ever since the inception when we first came out I mean we had a couple hundred kids and some adults,” Huber said. “And it just took off. It’s such an iconic event. The kids look forward to it. The coaches look forward to it and it was so crazy … it’s hard to believe that it would have been 22 years.”

Huber has seen the kids who ran in the first few Front Street Miles turn into parents of the kids who have run it.

“You see those kids who now are parents of kids who are now running in the same meet that mom and dad were running in 20-something years ago,” Huber said. “It’s really cool to see that. It was really cool to have parents coming up to me and telling me, ‘Hey, you know what? Yeah, we ran in your first couple of races … and now we have our kids in there.’

“So it truly is a very community-oriented event. We started at Cheeseburger in Paradise and then we changed to Bubba Gump’s and it was pretty solid all the way through, starting at Bubba Gump’s and then going around the Banyan Tree and then coming back. This past couple years (the start) was Tommy Bahama’s.”

Huber added that “just running on that street was beautiful. It was fascinating, It was a great event to be a part of. Very, very, very historic and it’s very sad to see that leave. I’ve been telling a lot of people, ‘Yeah, it’s sad, but the memories are there and those are great memories.’ At the same time, it’s just an event. My life is not over because I’m not doing this event. It’s just an event and there’s more important things really to think about than the race.”

Huber said it is much too early to know if a return of the event is even possible, but that time may come.

“People have asked me before, ‘Do you think you would do it again?’ ” Huber said. “I have been thinking about that and if things happen and stuff like that, yeah, I would definitely consider doing it again.”

Huber was thankful to the Kaanapali Golf Courses — the Royal Kaanapali Golf Course reopens on Monday and the Kaanapali Kai Golf Course will reopen soon — for making their facilities available for the Sept. 30 charity event.

“They were really gracious enough to let us use their facility for that,” Huber said. “It’s not going to be a competitive run. It’s just a run/walk — come out there with your kids. It does say keiki run … the majority of the entries are going to be kids, but we’d like for the adults to also come out with the kids. Or even if you don’t have kids, come out and participate. It’s $15 for entry.

“You could also do it virtual, you could do it in a big group, so if you’re a company or a school and you have 10, 15 people they can register as a group and represent their organization.”

Registration is available at runnersparadiseinc.com.

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com