Anaconda Community Market's Santa Scamper to raise funds for food bank

What is the best way to spend Christmas Eve morning? Curled up by the fire with a steaming mug of coffee? Perhaps. But for those looking for an active, social alternative, the Anaconda Community Market (ACM) will be hosting the Santa Scamper – and there will be coffee.

This year, ACM announced they would be taking over the Smelter City Scamper from the Pintler Athletic Center (PAC), which announced its dissolution and promised some of its funds to the market along with other organizations.

Dina Alibrahim Fike, who co-organizes the market, said the PAC hosted a Santa Scamper in the past as well, and wanted to continue that through the community market.

“It’s a thing we decided super last-minute,” Dina said. “It’s a fun, casual thing that starts and ends at the Commons.”

There is no early signup for interested runners. Those who’d like to participate can simply show up to Kennedy Common at 9:30 a.m. Christmas Eve – Wednesday, Dec. 24. From there, scamper-ers will go down West 4th Street, turn right on Sycamore, loop around Washoe Park, follow Washoe Park Road along to North Maple Street, turn left onto Pennsylvania Avenue, turn right on Main Street and arrive back at Kennedy Common.

“We want it to be so casual that people feel comfortable coming out in Christmas pajamas and ugly sweaters, Santa costumes, Grinch costumes, whatever they want,” Dina said. “It’s just a great way to come and enjoy the community.”

Dina also said there will be hot cocoa and cookies at the scamper courtesy of Albertsons and Stokes, and that her business, Adella Coffee, will be providing coffee.

They want to keep it so casual, in fact, that Dina’s co-organizer Alexis Krueger said calling the signup “registration” is too strong of a word.

“The route is two and a half hours long, and is on stroller-friendly terrain,” Krueger said. “Dogs are allowed on leash.”

The map of the route is included on page 6, and will be available on Anaconda Community Market’s Facebook and Instagram pages as well.

There isn’t a fee to participate, but Dina and Krueger are asking for a donation of $10, though they said whatever people are able to donate is welcome.

All the proceeds will go toward the Project Care Food Bank, for which the Anaconda Community Market helped organize a town-wide food drive for in November.

“We want to continue to have the focus be on food and food security and making sure people have enough,” Dina said.

Kruger and Dina emphasized that the scamper will proceed through rain or snow. The only thing that could stop it is 80-mile-per-hour winds like the ones we’ve had this past week, Dina said, or if there were ice conditions resulting in potential falling hazards.

“It is a winter run,” Krueger said.

All paces are welcome: walk, jog, run – the most important thing is that people show up, they said.