JESSUP, Pa. -- It begins with a celebratory wake up call from the Valley View High School band.
Then, the teams assemble. Blue for Saint George, black for Saint Anthony, and yellow for Saint Ubaldo.
"It"s amazing to see everyone come together, friends, family, from three different teams. you know, we come and we try to do our best to honor our saint, St. Ubaldo, St. George, St. Anthony," said Jeff Paone representing San Ubaldo.
There's a lot of anticipation leading up to the main event of the day, the racing of the saint's statues.
This event only happens in one other place in the world: Gubbio, Italy.
"My grandmother, my great great grandmother was born in the city of Gubbio, came to the United States in 1919. So, for a lot of us here, the runners today, there's a little bit of heritage and remembering our past which is pretty special to us," said Randy Hanyon representing San Ubaldo.
All that anticipation came to a halt, though the race, set to start at 5:30 was delayed an hour as police responded to an incident along the race route.
The police chief says a man was threatening suicide.
The threat forced race organizers to shorten the route.
Eventually, the saints raced up and down Church Street.
"Your hair stands up for this day, I mean, when you see the saints coming at you, or whatever, it's just an unbelievable feeling, you can't explain it," said Mark Mariani representing San Giorgio.