A midnight fun run and walk on Thanksgiving night led by Santa Claus on a Harley-Davidson, followed by an early Black Friday shopping spree, will get Freeport in the mood for the holiday extravaganza that is to come a week later. That will be the time for FreeportUSA’s Sparkle Celebration and the rush of humanity that descends on Maine’s premier shopping destination for the holiday season.
“Moonlight Madness” begins at midnight with the Moonlight Madness Fun Run/Walk, and Santa in the spotlight. The Freeport High School Interact Club invites the community to join the students on a Moonlight Madness Fun Run/Walk. The run starts and finishes at Olympia Sports, a primary sponsor for the event. Area businesses are sponsoring the event, as well as donating merchandise and coupons for goodie bags that all participants will receive. The top three runners will be awarded prizes.
Registration is from 10:30-11:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, or register online at http://www.runinarace.com/MoonlightMadness/registration.html. The entry fee is $10, or $15 the day of the event. All proceeds benefit Fuel Assistance Fund, Freeport Community Services.
Promptly after the run begins – at 12:01 a.m. Friday – the Moonlight Madness shopping experience gets under way. At 6 a.m., Freeport stores will open back up for the Black Friday shopping whirlwind.
“Some stores will close down at 3 or 4 a.m., take a break and then open back up at 6,” said Kelly Edwards, executive director of FreeportUSA.
And while Moonlight Madness is largely about shopping, Edwards credits the Interact Club and its adviser, Dede Bennell, for adding a different dimension to the experience.
“They really enthusiastically took this on a few years ago, and they’ve done a great job helping the fuel fund,” Edwards said.
Edwards will be out and about before all the hub-bub begins, welcoming people coming to Moonlight Madness from Boston, via the Amtrak Downeaster. She will greet people at the train station on Depot Street at 10:30 p.m. Thursday and at 2 a.m. Friday.
Santa, played by Robin Baron, owner of The James Place Inn on Holbrook Street, has developed a considerable following – and not just from the people running behind him on his 25-year-old, red Sportster Harley.
“It’s really funny,” Baron said. “I’ve developed a couple of groupies who come down from Canada to see me. This run is getting bigger – from about 40 to over 200 now. They follow me and they come back and there’s some random prizes that businesses in town donate. There’s a lot of silliness, especially depending on the weather. Everybody’s in a good mood and there’s some goofy old man driving around the streets on a Harley. It’s great.”
Baron is a longtime FreeportUSA board member.
“I just strongly support their focus and their efforts to market the community,” he said.
Dozens of outlet shops, like J. Crew Factory, The North Face, Tommy Hilfiger and more, will open their doors at midnight (L.L.Bean is always open). According to FreeportUSA, all of town will open again at 6 a.m. the day of Black Friday, as well.
Freeport sparkles on Dec. 4-5-6, with the annual Sparkle Celebration. Northern Lights, the musical holiday light show on the L.L. Bean Christmas Tree that begins on Friday, Nov. 20, sets the stage at 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 4, for Sparkle’s opening act, the Parade of Lights, which begins at 6. The L.L. Bean campus and the town will be a flurry of activity for three event-packed days.
Runners and walkers line up behind Santa, on his red Harley-Davidson, for the Moonlight Madness Fun/Run Walk that kicks off the Sparkle Celebration in Freeport.Send questions/comments to the editors.
