Saint Nick returns to northern Sask. for 21st annual Santa in the North event

By Ian Gustafson

Santa Claus traded in his reindeer for an airplane yesterday as Rise Air held their 21st annual Santa in the North event.

On Tuesday Santa and his elves visited schools in Fond-du-Lac, Black Lake and Stony Rapids delivering gifts and Christmas cheer to children. Last year, Rise Air was unable to take Santa on the trip due to the COVID-19 pandemic but were still able to ship the gifts to the communities.

Kathy Hay, marketing and communications officer with Rise Air said they really like to give back to the communities they live and operate in.

“We do like to focus a lot on children so giving back and making sure the children have the things that they need here as well. Christmas is definitely a fun time for the kids and everyone,” Hay said.

Many children were excited for Santa Claus, even waving for him as they walked by. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

Age-appropriate books were given to the students, as well as candy canes, Christmas oranges and other items. In total, over 1,200 students received gifts.

“The kids always look forward to it every year, the schools look forward to it.”

She said there is a need for this type of event because further south in the province residents have access to things northern communities do not.

“We have Santa’s in every mall we go to,” Hay added. “The kids here don’t have malls to go to to visit Santa and get their picture taken so it’s really nice to be able to bring Santa to the kids up north. We have a crew of elves that come along and help hand out the bags and love taking pictures and they’re always super excited to see Santa when they come, and it just lights up their faces and you can see it in their smiles.”

Children received books among other things as gifts from Santa on Tuesday. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)
Principal of Stony Rapids School Joyce Torrie said the Santa Run has been a continued tradition at the school and it’s nice the children have something to look forward to.

“It’s exciting for them so it’s nice to have Santa to come visit our school and nice to see visitors at our school because we haven’t had that,” Torrie explained. “They were pretty excited when Santa came today.”

Delbert Pacquette, principal of the Father Gamache Memorial School said the event is beneficial for the students.

“Especially because it brings the students together and connecting them with Santa Claus and the spirit of Christmas,” he said.

“We made sure that we had a tree up in our foyer and the students were informed about a month in advance and they’ve made little ornaments to decorate our school tree.”