Santa makes a stop for breakfast at CTMHV

by Kyle Reid

With the holiday season in full swing, Santa still had time to take a break from his busy schedule to pay a visit to the Canadian Transportation Museum & Heritage Village (CTMHV) on Sunday for the annual breakfast event, which is hosted in his honour.

The Museum has organized this annual event for around a decade now. This year’s traditional breakfast was well-attended, but had slightly lower participants than last year’s event, due to conflicting events in the County. Nevertheless, the museum was packed in the morning, with many of the children barely able to contain their excitement about meeting Old St. Nick.

And while the many eager children were thrilled to share their Christmas wish list with Santa, they were also more than happy to make their way to the craft stations at the event after finishing their meals. The museum also offered holiday gift-bags to the children, full of tasty treats for those who shared their Christmas wish list with Santa.

Of course, parents were treated to a tasty, mess free, and easy breakfast, prepared and served by CTMHV volunteers and staff.

Holiday music filled the halls, played on old gramophones, which were loaned to the museum for entertainment in place of the dancers who usually perform at the annual event. The ‘ancient relics’ sparked the curiosity of many of the young children.

 “A lot of kids have never seen those machines before, so they had some interest in them and seeing how they worked,” Emily Atkinson said, who is the CTMHV Media and Events Coordinator.

Like most CTMHV events, proceeds from the breakfast went towards funding supplies for the Museum’s Children’s Education Program. The Breakfast with Santa is one of the three major buffet-style fundraiser events organized by the museum every year.

“They’re really good income generators for us, and they’re a lot of fun for families,” Atkinson said. “It’s a great opportunity to spend some time with your family, have breakfast with Santa, and do some crafts.”