Santa goes by bike at Holiday Lights

Santa has embraced Century Cycles' motto "Define your life. Ride a bike." by replacing his reindeer with bicycles for Christmas this year and becoming the North Pole's busiest bike commuter. Well, at least the Santa in Century Cycles' display at Holiday Lights in Medina is going by bike!

Check it out at Holiday Lights at the Medina County Fairgrounds -- one of the area's largest drive-thru light displays. When they asked Century Cycles to be the exclusive bike store sponsor, we jumped at the chance to show that Santa is one of our bicycling brethren. (How else do you explain all those bicycle gifts under so many Christmas trees??)

Full credit for our amazing display at Holiday Lights goes to Don "Big Elf" Barnett and the entire Medina store crew. (We think they might actually work for Santa and Century Cycles is just a front.) They came up with the idea of "reindeer" bikes pulling Santa and his sleigh. First they worked on the bikes -- which now have heads and antlers instead of seats and handlebars -- then they built the sleigh:

Then they set to work painting it:

...and started testing lights:

Once painted and lit (complete with a red taillight for the lead bike's "nose!"), they transported it to the fairgrounds and set it up, along with some wheeths and extra lights:

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Lights is open now through December 25 (6-10pm on Fridays and Saturdays; 6-9pm on Sundays, and 6-10pm the week before Christmas). Cars are $7, 15-passenger vans are $12, and a bus is $50. The Medina County Fairgrounds is located at 710 Smith Road in Medina. For more details, go to http://www.medina-fair.com/.

(Photos: Mike Petcher and Justin Stark)