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Wrightsville Beach
Friday, March 29, 2024

Race combines history and holiday cheer

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Reindeer, snowmen, elves and Santa Clauses will race around the John Nesbitt Loop at 9 a.m. Dec. 13 for Wrightsville Beach Museum of History’s Jingle Bell 5K that celebrates the holiday season by encouraging competitors to run in costume.

Madeline Flagler, Wrightsville Beach Museum director, said the Jingle Bell Run has grown every year since the inaugural race in 2009, and in 2014 event organizers hope to have more than 500 participants.

A large number of those participants will likely be families. Flagler said the race now offers a family registration fee and a prize for the best family holiday costume. Awards will also be given to the top overall finishers, the top age group finishers, best overall costume, best group costume, best pet costume and best decorated stroller.

The top overall male and female finishers earn the right to participate in a unique Jingle Bell Run tradition. Every year, Flagler said, museum board member Sandy May crafts large wreaths out of jingle bells to hang from the finish line. The winners cut them down and take them home.

The awards for best pet costume and best stroller decorations are more recent additions to the race. Flagler said the stroller award was actually inspired by historical events.

During the 1930s and ’40s, she said, the Lumina Pavilion held what were essentially beauty contests for babies. Many mothers would strive to give their babies an advantage by decorating the babies’ strollers with elaborate crepe paper and garlands. Flagler said the Jingle Bell Run’s stroller award gently alludes to that piece of history.

“We didn’t think it was a good idea to compare the babies,” she said, laughing, “but it was OK to compare the strollers.”

The race itself also gives competitors a glimpse of Wrightsville Beach history. The course takes runners past several historical homes, including the two Bordeaux houses, which are nearly 100 years old.

Competitors running past the intersection of Causeway Drive and Lumina Avenue might also notice the lack of 90-degree turns, a configuration left over from the days when the trolley navigated those roads.

The Jingle Bell Run was originally created to serve as the main fundraiser for the museum. Flagler said proceeds from the race would benefit the various presentations, exhibits and lectures the museum offers for both children and adults.

“We’re a private nonprofit, which means that we don’t get any federal or local or county funds. Our main mission is doing outreach and doing programs,” she said.

Flagler said even if race day offers less-than-ideal conditions, the museum still hopes to have a successful fundraiser. If past years are any indication, she said, bad weather wouldn’t put a damper on holiday cheer.

“We’ve had windy weather, cold weather, really rainy weather, and we’ve had gorgeous weather,” Flagler said. “People tell us this [race] is the one they always make sure to run because it’s so much fun.”

Runners can sign up by searching for the Wrightsville Beach Jingle Bell 5K at www.its-go-time.com and completing the online registration form.

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