Participants will have the opportunity to celebrate the holiday season Saturday night by pub crawling with a Christmas twist.

The fifth annual Oregon District Santa Pub Crawl will take place this weekend.

Individuals do not have to pay a cover charge when they dress as Santa or another holiday character. The event benefits Toys for Tots and Montgomery County Child Services.

Individuals must donate $10 or bring an unwrapped toy to participate.

Brian Young, a Dayton resident, organized the pub crawl when he moved to the city from Denver, Colo.

"Denver had a huge pub crawl, now officially the largest pub crawl in the world, and I started here with 14 or 15 people running around the Oregon District with Santa suits on," Young said in a promotional video for this year's event.

Since then, it has grown. With the addition of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base's pub crawl, it stands in competition with Denver as the world's largest pub crawl, Ashley Simmons, who helps Young organize the event, said in the video.

Steve Tieber, owner of The Dublin Pub, said in the video that the event started a few years ago and was at first "small and quaint." Now, about 180 people participate. Tieber said he is hoping the attendance will double this year.

"This night is an extremely fantastic night for not only Dayton businesses but the hotels as well," Tieber said in the video. "As long as all the businesses are embracing this fantastic event, it should be an excellent opportunity for the retail trade in downtown Dayton."

A costume contest with prizes will be held so participants are encouraged to dress up and be creative Saturday night.

"Some of the costumes people come in are, of course, Santa," Young said in the video. "We have snowmen; we have reindeer, character costumes from story books, Cindy Lou [and] the Grinch. I think there was a 'Nightmare Before Christmas' costume, too."

Festivities will begin at The Dublin Pub at 6 p.m. Participants are welcome to come there or the next bar in the crawl, The Trolley Stop, at 7:30 p.m. where they can still drop off toys.

"For those of you who haven't been to downtown Dayton in a while, this is a great opportunity," Tieber said in the video. "We're going to be visiting six different restaurants and bars, traveling with 200 to 300 people with Christmas spirit and Santa outfits. It's a great way of visiting these Dayton establishments and participating in a great Dayton event."