Nearly 200 people attended Brantford Flying Club’s Santa Fly-In event at the Brantford Municipal Airport on Saturday, December 7, 2024.
While the club has hosted the event in the past, it’s been around six or seven years since the last Santa Fly-In.
“When we’ve held this event in previous years, we only ever had around 35 to 40 people come out so for us, this is a big crowd and we’re so pleased to have everyone here today,” said Rita Richter, event coordinator.
Before the main event, 11 Air Cadets helped direct children and their adults downstairs into the flying school for various crafts, snacks and cartoons, and as Father Christmas neared his destination, the attendees were brought out air-side to watch his arrival.
The sound of excitement filled the air as the youngsters began shouting and waving to Santa and his trusty head elf high in the sky.
Once on the ground, Santa began jingling his bells and wishing everyone a merry Christmas before leading the first group of visitors into the main hangar.
The children were all smiles as they approached the man in the big red suit for a handshake or a high five and a hello.
As Santa got settled in, many families began lining up for their picture with jolly old St. Nick while others indulged in hot chocolate, coffee, snacks and more crafts.
Carolyn Pattinson, who brought along two-year-old Charles Stuart, said she was impressed with the event.
“I thought it was really nice, we got to have breakfast at the SkyWay Cafe beforehand and then we got to come to this afterwards,” said Pattinson. “We really loved that Santa was flying in with the elf as his pilot and that we got to see them land the plane. Charlie loves airplanes so I think that was just a lot of fun for him. I also thought it was nice that they gave us snacks, the little cardboard plane and the colouring book, the little stencils were cute too.”
When asked what his favourite part of the day was, Charles said it was the Christmas music and seeing the planes.
“I really like this big plane,” he exclaimed, pointing to the grounded aircraft in the hangar. “I want to go on that plane on a different day.”
Overall, Richter said she was happy with the turnout, noting it’s been one of her favourite events she helped put on thus far.
“I thought today was amazing and I would love to thank the community for supporting the airport and showing up; it’s so great to have just such beautiful, smiling faces here… I think we brought a lot of joy today,” said Richter. “This event has definitely gone above and beyond anything I’ve ever done here at the airport, it was just wonderful and who knows, maybe we sparked an interest in flying for some of these kids and maybe we even started a new holiday tradition for some of these families.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
