Santa heads to far North as part of early Christmas run
- Fraser Needham | December 23, 2014
Christmas came early to a few far northern Saskatchewan communities late last week.
Transwest Air’s Santa Run made stops in Fond du Lac, Wollaston Lake, Stony Rapids and Black Lake.
As part of the annual event, the northern airline makes stops in the various northern communities it serves just before Christmas to provide small gifts for local children.
Rob Garneau is Transwest’s information and technology manager and once a year he dresses up as Santa Claus.
He says it is one of the most enjoyable parts of his job.
“It’s for the kids, it’s exciting, I get hopped up on their excitement, everybody at Transwest who’s involved with putting this together gets excited about it – just seeing the smiles on their faces,” he says.
Transwest’s marketing manager Gord Dent says the annual event is all about retaining strong customer relations with the families they serve.
“I think what I’ve enjoyed, even from last year to this year, is seeing the kids come back again and they’re all three inches taller – the smiles are bigger.”
Cathy Pische had a few grandchildren at the Fond du Lac event.
She says when Santa stops at the local airport, all the local kids certainly know about it.
“It’s very important for them because when they know Santa’s coming in, the terminal’s just full,” she says.
Transwest gave out company toques, candy and mandarin oranges to a few hundred northern kids as part of this year’s Santa Run.
The annual Santa Run is in its fourteenth year.
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