When Santa Claus comes to Kamsack in only three weeks from now, although he won’t be bringing any of his reindeer with him, he will be greeted in style with a lot more happening at a larger location.
Santa Claus is the star of Kamsack’s annual Santa Claus parade which is held during the community’s Moonlight Madness pre-Christmas shopping event when several businesses agree to stay open later than normal.
This year the event will be held November 24, and the parade will start at 6 p.m., which is an hour earlier than it had started in previous years.
Like in the past, the parade will begin at Crowstand Centre and go down Third Street to Third Avenue and then to First Street, where it will turn.
But rather than ending at the seniors’ centre about a half hour after it begins, it will go a bit farther to the Broda Sportsplex, where Santa Claus has agreed to spend time in the lower hall, greeting, talking to and being photographed with children as he distributes treats.
It has become evident that with the increasing success of Santa’s annual visit, the seniors’ centre has become much too small a place to adequately accommodate everyone who wants to attend, said Kev Sumner, Kamsack’s recreation director, who is helping to arrange for the visit and organize the parade.
Being much larger than the seniors’ centre, the rink should be a more suitable place for Santa to greet the children, Sumner said, adding that the evening will include much more than the visit with “Father Christmas,” as he, who was raised in England, is in the habit of referring to the jolly elf from the North Pole.
Members of the Kamsack Community Choir will be attending to sing carols as people gather to wait for Santa’s arrival. Nicole Larson from the Kamsack Library will be selling 50/50 tickets and members of the Kamsack Comprehensive Institute’s Free the Children group will be offering to paint the faces of children.
Lloyd Smith will be in town again, offering horse-drawn wagon rides around town free of charge and hot chocolate with cookies will be available for everyone, courtesy of the Town of Kamsack.
Craig and Lisa Kosokowsky and their staff from the Iron Grill restaurant will have the rink’s concession open for business during the visit.
And then, at 8 p.m., Santa and everyone else will be treated to a free exhibition hockey game between the Togo Terriers senior team and a Yorkton team.
Sumner asks that groups and businesses planning to have an entry in the parade contact him at the recreation office so that he will be better able to prepare for the parade.
As was previously announced, an illness affecting reindeer in the Preeceville area, where arrangements had been made to accommodate the animals on their way to and from Kamsack, has made it impossible for them to accompany Santa this year.
