Neither snow, nor rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night, nor biting cold will keep the Webster Village Runners from enjoying a fun wintry run together, and Saturday afternoon was no exception.
Once again this year, the Webster Village Runners were extremely well represented at the 2025 It’s a Wonderful Run 5K held in Seneca Falls Saturday evening. It matched the largest group we’ve ever had participate (at least four cars and a packed van made the hour-long trip), and a few had never experienced this race before — so that made it even more fun. It always draws thousands of runners (this year the total was almost 4,400), and almost everyone dresses up in holiday attire, including bells, Santa hats, elf costumes and Christmas lights. I saw people dressed as Christmas trees and snowmen, the Grinch and a Yeti, and lots of tutus. Everyone is in a jolly mood.
This is a must-do run for any fan of the Jimmy Stewart classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s generally accepted that Frank Capra based his movie on the charming little village. There’s an It’s a Wonderful Life Museum, and the race begins adjacent to the bridge believed to be the inspiration for the one in the movie — plus, 85-year old Karolyn Grimes herself (who played Zuzu) starts the race by announcing the famous line, “Every time a bell rings, a angel gets his wings.”
The run is the culminating event of Seneca Falls’ annual It’s a Wonderful Life Festival, three days of activities and events including an art show, films, a breakfast, a parade and autograph sessions with three of the original actors: Karolyn Grimes (Zuzu), Jimmy Hawkins (Tommy) and Don Collins (young Pete Bailey).
True to its name, the It’s a Wonderful Run is more a run (or walk) than a race. For sure there are many runners who wiggle to the front of the pack to do their 4-minute miles, but many more thousands of us are content to walk most of the route, to experience everything there is to see and do along the way.
Seneca Falls village residents come out in force for this event. They set up fire pits and ring cow bells and give high-fives to all the runners. They hand out Fireball shots, vodka shots, whiskey shots, mudslide shots, pudding and Jello shots. At one house, they were grilling hot dogs and handing them to the runners. And all through the beautiful little village, the houses are ablaze with Christmas lights and Christmas music blares from the porches.
So there’s not a whole lot of running involved; there is a lot of stopping and sampling the treats and taking photos of the beautifully decorated homes along the route. But this is not a race for time. This is a run for fun. And doing it every year with my Village Runners buddies makes it even more enjoyable.
If you’re interested in seeing more photos from the event, click here for a Facebook gallery. (Or if you don’t have Facebook, click here.) I tried to capture some of the more outlandish costumes, and the sense of community generated by Seneca Falls as we all celebrate one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time.
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(posted 12/15/2025)
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Hi Missy, My bucket list goal is to do one more 5k, and I’d like to do the Seneca Falls trip next year. Smiles, Larry Kilbury
Excellent! It’s always the second Saturday in December, so in 2026 it should be Dec. 12. Put it on your calendar now and remind me closer to the date, and we’ll talk more about it!