Holly Jolly Kids Christmas to take place Saturday

Santa Claus is coming to town. 

The St. Joseph Stanton-Fire Family is putting on Holly Jolly Kids Christmas on Saturday. The event includes a pancake breakfast from 7 to 9:30 a.m. with a visit from The Grinch. The cost is $8 for adults, $6 for kids.  

Santa will arrive on a St. Joseph-Stanton fire truck at 10 a.m. 

While waiting to see Santa kids and parents can enjoy hot cocoa, crafts, make reindeer food and write Santa a letter.

Meena’s Memories will also be on site to take family photos. 

Event organizer Vickie Reese said the event take months to plan but it is worth it to see the joy on the children’s faces. 

“My personal favorite part is seeing all the joy, hearing all the laughter and seeing the Village of St. Joe and surrounding towns come together to share in the Magic of the Christmas season,” she said. 

Reese said there is a lot of work that goes into the day. 

“We begin planning the year prior and start to execute the vision in October,” she said. “We set up the trees and make sure all the lights are working a couple of weeks prior to the event.”

A week prior to the event, the lights are hung, the trees are fluffed and decorated and the backdrops are hung.

Then the evening prior and the early morning of a few of Fire Family members decorate the tables the firefighters, SJO FFA and National Honor Society volunteers put up.

“It’s a ton of work but so worth it,” she said. 

Each child who visits Santa will receive a fire helmet and a gift bag with a craft, reindeer food, coloring pages and a few other surprises inside.