CARLYLE — During the Carlyle Dickens Village Festival, people may have noticed there were a lot of Santa’s running around town.
Living Skies Strength and Conditioning Fitness Centre organized a Santa Run.
A link had been sent to them about doing a five-kilometre run. A person registered and completed the run on their own.
Amy Brady produced this idea to hold the Santa run during Dickens and it was a success.
Fifty-one people showed up on Dec. 2, including parents and their kids dressed in Santa suits or sweaters and Santa toques to take part in the run that had been laid out throughout the town.
Brady said they made the route close to Main Street so people who were attending the festival would see all these Santas running around.
This was the first time the event took place, but because it was so successful, she feels it will become an annual event.
Registration took place at Living Skies beforehand, and the morning of, everyone met at the Carlyle Home Hardware parking lot. Brady was happy to have Katie from the hardware store offer this space for the start and finish of the race.
Before the jaunt started, the participants were briefed on the route and other details.
The event could be done as a walk or run, whichever suited the person best. Many families showed up to take part and some even took their dogs on the run as the weather was great for the event. Brady was incredibly happy to see it turn into a family event.
They were pretty excited for the turnout this year and are happy to announce they were able to donate $1,865.18 to the Carlyle Community Complex Foundation for the new school.
Each year they will pick a different organization to donate to, but it will become a tradition to do this run during the festival.
So many people thought it was neat to see all the Santa’s running down the streets, explained Brady.
She is excited to hold the event in 2024 for its second annual run.
