Lights on the Bay 5K - Annapolis, Maryland - Running

"Good concept, but highly disappointed "

Our kids were big into sports, soccer mainly. After the pandemic hit and there weren't many teams to go back to, our 11 yr old son decided he wanted to run our neighborhood 5k. He loved it so much that he continued his training and did a total of five 5ks More... this year. We ended with Lights on the Bay. Since there were no individual tickets (car up to 5 ppl per $55), we thought it would be fun for the family (mom, dad, and 2 brothers) to do the fun run as he did the 5k.
After attending the others this year, we were blind sided by the lack of organization.
It started with the gate, I couldn't find our email, but had a screenshot of our receipt. Normally other 5ks, they only needed your name, which they had no records of.
Then we take our waiver to the registration table and received no counter/bib, or anything to keep track of our timing. A shirt would have been nice too.
There was a clock, flags and a poster of the course map. We had no clue which way to go. There were no signs and only 1 person in the middle of the course who failed to tell the fun run people where to turn.
My husband was running with our 7 year old and I felt so bad, because they clearly did way more than a mile. Our 11 yr old who ran the 5k, accidentally ran a loop twice and then was told it was the wrong way after he got back, so he ended up running about 4 miles.
He did end up finishing 1st in kids under 12 yrs old, which he was appreciative of the metal, but it didn't even have the name of the event on it. And dont mention the cars that they allow to still drive around while you have everyone, including little kids running.
I just feel for $55 whether we all ran it or just our 11 yr old, they didn't put any effort into this event. They offered a few cookies, bottle water, and some hot cider/hot chocolate, which was nice. But there was no water in the middle of the race, there were no counters/bibs, no start/finish line, no signs to tell you where to go.
It was a fantastic concept. And so happy to donate to a good cause for SPCA, just a very disappointing turn out.
Guess if their goal was to make as much profit with least expense, they had to have met their goal..the best event for your buck for the runner...not so much.
Very surprised this is an annual race..unfortunately our family won't be back next year, guess we will have to stick to the drive to see lights on the bay.
Good luck to those participating in the future.