When Langley firefighter Mark Butterworth brought the candy canes to the till at Save-On-Foods in Langley, it was more than an armful.
“I took up the whole conveyor belt,” Butterworth told the Langley Advance Times.
“The cashier just laughed.”
It was for the first Candy Cane Run through Aldergrove, or least, the first in a very long time.
READ MORE: Langley firefighters bring Christmas cheer with Candy Cane Runs
Butterworth, a paid on-call firefighter who works at Hall 3 in Aldergrove, said other Langley fire halls have been holding similar events for more than 20 years, but he couldn’t recall if any had ever been run out of the Aldergrove hall before.
Neither could fellow firefighter Kyle Power, who credited Butterworth for organizing the event.
“It’s the first time that fire hall 3 has done one, that we know,” Power explained.
“[But] there may have been one long ago.”
Santa accompanied the firefighters bearing candy canes through Aldergrove neighbourhoods, leaving delighted smiles in their wake.
Two year-old Evelyn Teichroeb was one of the first to get a candy cane from Santa.
Despite having a bad cold, she waited patiently with her parents, all bundled up to keep warm, for the fire trucks arrival.
“She was here almost 45 minutes,” her dad said.
Just down the street, one-and-a-half year old Reggie Dundas hitched a ride on Dad’s shoulders for an eye-to-eye encounter with Santa, while his older brother Alfie got a boost from mom to speak with the “elf” driving one of the fire trucks.
Almost every hall in the Township was holding Candy Cane Runs this holiday season, with most accepting donations for local food banks and other charities, including cash and non-perishable foods.
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More photos of the Aldergrove Candy Cane Run can be viewed online.
dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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