News : Vinton Christmas Open House Kicks off the Shopping Season

5th grade girls, the Sole Sisters, pictured with running mates, met on Sunday afternoon

As area merchants prepared for the Annual Christmas Open House the community was ready to shop.

While shoppers checked out the merchandise, the Union Community School Carolers made their way through the downtown popping into stores and singing carols to the patrons. At the same time, Santa Paws made his way to the Better Together shop to pose for pictures with families and their pets.

High School students sold baked goods to raise money for their trip next year to Washington D.C. in front of Cameron's.

Children can now also send letters to Santa by dropping them into Santa's Mailbox available in front of LaGrange Pharmacy.

At the same time that shoppers were visiting the downtown shops, a group of 5th-grade girls, known as the Sole Sisters met in the courthouse lawn to lace on their sneakers and race through town.

The girls had their hair sprayed in fun colors and a bit of face painting to make the event a bit more fun.

As the girls took off for their race, area adults accompanied the girls and cheering them on at each turn with signs and kind words of encouragement.

Coming in first were two girls that lead the group throughout the run, Kaelynn Roster and Lainey Phippen. As the girls finished the race, they began cheering on the girls who followed them. As the group at the finish line grew, the cheering became louder until the final racer crossed the line. Each of the girls was given a medal as they finished and posed for a picture along with the running partners.

Pictures from the day can be seen here.