PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -
What do you get when you have dozens of Elvises, lots of crazy costumes and a bunch of runners all taking to the streets of downtown Portland?
The Legacy Health Starlight Run.
Thousands of people gathered at Lincoln High School for the start of the run earlier this evening, which kicked off with a costume contest.
Starlight is billed as the city's oldest and zaniest running event and it's not hard to see why.
This year brought out some creative costumes. From Kiss, to some who looked half dressed, to a group in orange cones called "Highway 26."
PHOTOS: Starlight run costumes | SHARE: Post your Starlight Run photo on our Facebook timeline
We even managed to find Waldo - a whole family of them.
"We love the books and we love the series so we thought we would do something fun as a family," Suzanne Cooney, dressed as mother Waldo, said.
But the craziest and funniest costume we found was a giant Elvis, running for the fun and a good cause.
Money raised from this year's event will benefit Legacy Heart Services and the Bald Faced Truth Foundation.
"We've been working on it the last three weekends. It's so worth it. It's so much fun to be here," the giant Elvis said.
Participants wove their way through the parade route for the 5k run with thousands of spectators cheering them along the way before heading back to Lincoln High School.
Event organizers haven't counted the final number yet but they said more than 5,000 people were expected to participate in this year's run, making it the largest on record.
Copyright 2012 KPTV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
