WELLSBORO - Hollywood is coming to the borough in September to raise awareness about the plight of missing children.
Fireball Run Adventurally, Northern Exposure, a fundraising road rally affiliated with Universal Studio Productions, will make a stop here Sept. 24 and 25, according to Tioga County Visitor's Bureau Director Sandi Spencer.
The rally will begin three days earlier in Independence, Ohio, and about 40 vehicles will stop in the borough, accompanied by about 125 people including drivers, their teams and a Universal film crew.
Spencer said Wellsboro was selected as a host city for the rally after applying through the state tourism office earlier this year.
Celebrities such as Daytona 500 winner Geoff Bodine, Space Shuttle astronaut Winston Scott and a star of television show "Burn Notice," Jeff Donovan, have participated in the event, but the initial information did not indicate which - if any - celebrities will be participating when the rally visits Tioga County.
The competition is described as a combination scavenger hunt and road rally and different from the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally held in Wellsboro each June.
"They have teams with different missions they need to accomplish when they get here," Spencer said.
The end result will be a part in a movie production created by Universal Studios, she said.
According to Spencer, the event is to be streamed live to 1.4 million online viewers then edited into a full-length movie with a red carpet premiere in Orlando, Fla.
The borough council approved allowing the event during a meeting in late February.
According to the website www.fireballrun.com, Fireball Run events serve many charitable roles - the most notable of which is the "Race to Recover America's Missing Children," a foundation started by the organization in memory of missing children.
The road rally generate "$29 million in media exposure" and focus on the efforts of 'Race to Recover America's Missing Children' - the country's largest and longest "active recovery effort" for missing and abducted children, the website statement said.
Every Fireball Run team is assigned a child missing from their home region and while competing in the adventure it's their mission to distribute 1,000 posters throughout the journey in an effort to raise awareness for and aid in the recovery of that missing child.
Annually Fireball Run distributes nearly 75,000 posters, which to date has aided in the recovery of 35 missing children.
According to Spencer, a press conference concerning the event is scheduled for Friday, when more information will be forthcoming.
