Hot Chocolate Run History

Jen Dieringer has been running 5ks and 10ks and more for as long as she can remember. Her husband, John Frey, has been organizing, promoting and participating in running and cycling events for over 10 years, and in 1999 founded his business, Velocity Results, which provides race results for cycling and running races. Their combined interest in and experience with the sport of running sparked the enthusiasm that led to the first ever Mayor Higgins’ Hot Chocolate Run in 2004.

That the event was created to serve as a fundraiser for Safe Passage, the Hampshire County non-profit agency that supports survivors of domestic violence and their children, was a reflection of Jen's long-standing commitment to that issue, as reflected in her work as a legal services attorney and as a member of the Safe Passage Board of Directors. As a longtime advocate for children and a good friend to Safe Passage, Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins willingly embraced the vision and the event as the title sponsor, and has lead the walk every year.

After months of enlisting volunteers, gathering donated goods and services, collecting financial support and registering participants, Jen, John and the Northampton community hosted the first annual Mayor Higgins Hot Chocolate Run. ON a drizzly, cold morning when most people were still sleeping or groggily planning out their holiday shopping over coffee, over 200 runners and 250 walkers ran, walked and raised $6000 for Safe Passage. The turnout was beyond Jen and John’s wildest expectations, and in fact, they ran out of mugs, something that has never happened since! The energy and enthusiasm of the participants and supportive bystanders convinced us that this simply had to become an annual event.

The second year saw a doubling both of participants and proceeds to Safe Passage, and in the third year, 2006, the numbers doubled once again, with over 1700 participants, including Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, running, walking, drinking 120 gallons of hot chocolate and raising $30,000 for Safe Passage. Last year, the numbers increased yet again, and 2200 participants raised $45,000 for Safe Passage.

The Hot Chocolate Run is truly a collaborative effort involving a huge number and variety of the Valley’s businesses and business people. The event’s icons, the Penguin and the Polar Bear, were conceived of by Florence-based nationally syndicated cartoonist Hilary B. Price, who creates a new logo every year, making the mugs that the logo appears on quite the coveted item, and one of the reasons participants come back year after year. From the very first year, Northampton Coffee (a locally owned coffee shop that enjoyed such success that a second store, Amherst Coffee, was opened not long after the first) has donated the cocoa powder and sugar for the hot chocolate.

In 2007, when the committee finally conceded that the participant numbers were simply too big to be rising at 4:00 a.m. to brew the chocolate in Jen and John’s kitchen and in local church kitchens, The Hotel Northampton and Spoleto Restaurant generously stepped forward to fill that role. Using 160 gallons of milk, donated by both businesses, 50 pounds of cocoa powder, 150 pounds of sugar and 160 ounces of vanilla, they created 150 gallons of hot chocolate that was speedily and environmentally delivered to the event site by Pedal People, a Northampton business that picks up and hauls trash by bicycle.

2007 also brought a number of exciting additions to the event. Tunes were spun by local deejay Bex Taylor, local band Primate Fiasco “oozed” with the walkers, WHMP broadcasted live from the start/finish line, and local media personalities Bill Dwight and Jennifer Myszkowski entertained and cheered the participants.

Thank you SO MUCH for joining us – we hope you will make it an annual event. Please support our sponsors and consider a donation to Safe Passage.

2004 Results

2005 Results

2006 Results

2007 Results