By MARK GILCHRIST

For one year, Columbus County residents have been walking, working out and watching their diets in a community project with an ambitious challenge to lose a whole ton of weight.

Their success in Columbus County Drops a Ton and more will be disclosed during the Lose-a-Palooza “celebra-ton” at Southeastern Community College Friday evening. One participant will drive away in a prize pickup truck, several will carry away prizes weighing one ton each and everyone can “gain a ton of knowledge” of good health.

The free festival is open to the public, and everyone, regardless of participation, can enjoy prizes, food, fun items and health literature. Participants who responded to the event’s final survey are eligible to win the 1988 Ford Ranger pickup truck donated by Quality Ford, or one of several 2,000-pound prizes, including 324 gallons of gasoline.

Event T-shirts will be given to the first 200 people.

Dropaton is a unique effort that has attracted attention of health officials throughout the state and region as the nation deals with an obesity rate of crisis proportions. The project has been endorsed by county and state leaders and has involved many organizations from parks and recreation and health departments to the schools and Cooperative Extension Service. Coordination of these efforts has been through Columbus County Healthy Carolinians, The Greater Whiteville Chamber of Commerce and The News Reporter.

Friday evening will be packed with music and exciting, if not professional, entertainment. The one-ton prizes will be on display to show guests just how much excess weight has been lost this year. The fun begins at 6 p.m. and should wind down before 9 o’clock

One person who lost significant weight this past year was Karen Tatum of SCC, and she said losing weight was its own reward. “I could hardly wait to wake up in the morning and weigh myself,” she said. “My favorite thing was buying new clothes.” Tatum dropped 12 dress sizes and found that discarding her old, large clothes gave her even more incentive to keep the weight off.

Columbus County has often been at the “bottom” of the list for many things, but Tatum said she is pleased with how people have responded to the challenge of this project.

“That Columbus County cares about its health is obvious,” she said. “We have set ourselves a goal to live a healthier lifestyle.”

Details on the project and on Lose-a-Palooza are on the web site: Dropaton.org