Santa Run kicks off the start of the holiday season

People were dressed as Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus, elves and reindeer.

There even was someone in a Christmas tree costume who was a walking billboard in favor of using artificial Christmas trees.

And, along the way, there was a running race.

It was the second annual Santa Run in downtown Havre. It was 21 degrees out Saturday afternoon. That was about 40 degrees warmer than a year ago, some of the veterans of the race pointed out. And the winds were more calm this year.

The Havre Area Chamber of Commerce urged people to dress up in the season to make the run more colorful, and many runners gladly complied.

They downplayed the idea that they had any special ingenuity or creativity in designing the costumes that received acclaim from passersby.

Rachel Singer of Havre was dressed as a Christmas tree, with a string of lights, bulbs, garland, tinsel and a painted green face. On her back was a sign that read "Save My Species, Buy Artificial."

Designing the costume took only about a half an hour of work, she said.

"I just put on some good music and away I went," she said.

With Rachel was Sarah Solomon, who was dressed up as Frosty the Snowman.

"Frosty is just my favorite," she said.

The two opted for the walk part of the Santa Walk/Run and finished near the top of the walking contingent.

Sam Lippy and his Mom, Meg Lippy, came in red Christmas clothes, adorned with holiday decorations. They gathered everything from around the house.

"The only thing we had to make was the Christmas presents," he said, pointing to the boxes attached to his costume.

The Spangler family was attired in colorful Christmas clothes.

"It was all done in one trip to Walmart," dad Chad Spanger said.

Another group tried emulating the seven reindeer, and connected themselves with rope, talking about how they could run together.

In the front, Jeff Hedstrom even put on a red nose to emulate Rudolph.

The group rethought the idea of a joint effort and ran the race individually.

The entire crowd lined up as Chamber Executive Director Debbie Vandenberg instructed. People took pictures of the colorful crowd at the starting point, and people took off down 3rd Avenue.

Exactly six minutes later, Garrett Aguillard crossed the finish line in his green hat and red-and-green tights to take the Santa Run championship.

Santa Run winners

Fastest Male: Garrett Aguillard, 6 min

Fastest Female: Janett Pugh, 9:43

Best Dressed Santa: Mr. and Mrs. Spangler (Chad and Sarah)

Best Child Elf: Zoe Stiffarm

Best Elf Trio: Caleb, Carter and Max Spangler