Anacortes’ holiday tradition: ‘The Jimmy Stewart Christmas Run’
Dec 23, 2019, 9:57 AM | Updated: 1:12 pm
Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey in "It's A Wonderful Life" inspired some Anacortes residents to re-create a classic scene from the film every Christmas Eve since 1991. (Public domain)
(Public domain)
The classic 1940s holiday movie “It鈥檚 A Wonderful Life” made quite an impression on a group of friends from Anacortes. On Christmas Eve, they鈥檒l be out on the streets of the Skagit County port taking part in a tradition that鈥檚 now nearly 30 years old.
Matt Orr is a third-grade teacher in Chimacum. He grew up in Anacortes, and he鈥檚 back there every Christmas Eve to see family and friends, and to preside over an organic event known as 鈥淭he Jimmy Stewart Christmas Run.鈥�
鈥淚t started out in the back of a car,鈥� Orr said by phone, describing the event as a way to blow off steam after sitting for an hour in church on Christmas Eve. 鈥淸We鈥檇] roll down the windows, one person was driving, and they would point at a business, and we would all shout 鈥楳erry Christmas,鈥� like a Jimmy Stewart type of 鈥楳erry Christmas.鈥欌��
What Matt Orr and various configurations of his two brothers and their Anacortes friends do each year on the streets of their hometown is re-create the famous from the classic Frank Capra holiday film 鈥淚t鈥檚 A Wonderful Life.鈥� In the iconic scene, George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, is grateful to be alive again after seeing what the world would be like had he 鈥渘ever been born.鈥� Stewart, as George Bailey, runs down the snowy streets of his hometown, wishing 鈥楳erry Christmas鈥� to the people, buildings and businesses he passes.
Every Christmas Eve, Matt Orr and his friends bike, run or drive up Commercial Avenue in Anacortes doing essentially the same thing for what they have come to call 鈥淭he Jimmy Stewart Christmas Run.鈥�
Refreshingly, there鈥檚 no website or social media page trumpeting logistical details of 鈥淭he Jimmy Stewart Run.鈥� And, fortunately, there are no t-shirts or other irritating swag. The history of the event is a little vague, too.
鈥淚t’s all told verbally, and so nobody keeps any records of who showed up and where we were,鈥� Orr said, while trying to give a reporter a sense of how and when the event came to be.
But this means the memories are even more special.
鈥淭here are so many amazing huge memories when you get a large crowd,鈥� Orr said. 鈥淚’ve been surprised both ways when I turn make the turn onto 4th Avenue, and I see three or four cars there, and people unloading bikes and riding around in circles getting ready to go.鈥�
Matt Orr thinks the tradition began in 1991, and acknowledges that, with the demands that come with being an adult, there may have been a few gaps, as well as a year or two here and there where turnout was pretty light.
鈥淭here was one year where it was just one brother and myself,鈥� Orr said.
In 2018, there was a shortage of bicycles available, so Matt Orr decided to go on foot.
鈥淚 ran . . . [and] as I get up there in years, I’m not running the entire length of Commercial Avenue,鈥� Orr said. 鈥淸But] I paid for that.鈥�
This year, Matt鈥檚 brother is hoping to be on wheels. But not on a bike.
鈥淚 think my older brother still is planning this year to somehow put together some sort of old-fashioned wheelchair so he could be Mr. Potter,鈥� Orr said, name-checking the wheelchair-bound villain of the film, played by Lionel Barrymore.
And whether on wheels or on foot, Orr says that in the nearly 30 years of the event, the Anacortes Police Department has only weighed in once.
鈥淲e got pulled over because windows were rolled down and people were kind of leaning out of the of the of the vehicle,鈥� Orr said. And, no, the cop鈥檚 name wasn鈥檛 Burt.
If it had been, Matt Orr says, 鈥渨e would have invited him along.鈥�
All kidding aside, it鈥檚 clear that the 鈥淛immy Stewart Christmas Run鈥� really means something to Matt Orr and his friends.
鈥淚 think it’s nostalgic [and] it’s a resonating movie. The energy of the run, the awakening, [George Bailey] realizing he’s alive, and the joy that he’s feeling,鈥� Orr said. And the anticipation, Orr says, 鈥渁fter having been in a church service for an hour on a late night before a holiday when we were kids . . for me, 鈥楾he Jimmy Stewart Christmas Run鈥� is about the, 鈥極kay, that’s when Christmas begins.鈥欌��
When Christmas Eve 2019 arrives on Tuesday, Orr and his friends will gather around 9 p.m. on Commercial Avenue in the heart of downtown Anacortes. The final stop on 鈥淭he Jimmy Stewart Christmas Run鈥� on that historic street will probably be the , which had already been in business for more than a decade when 鈥淚t鈥檚 A Wonderful Life鈥� first premiered in 1946.
