The jolly old elf is coming back to the Highland County Senior Citizens Center on Saturday, Dec. 1, and he’s bringing with him some friends who look like Mary Poppins, Anna, Elsa and Olaf from Disney’s “Frozen,” and “The Grinch.”
It’s all part of the senior citizens center’s efforts at ushering in the Christmas season for area children at their facility on Muntz Street in Hillsboro.
Children can enjoy breakfast with Santa, sing along with Mary Poppins, visit with the characters from “Frozen,” and ask the Grinch why he tried to steal Christmas, plus send up special treats for Santa’s reindeer on the roof in a special magical elevator, according to Executive Director Mechell Frost.
“We’ll have three different time slots that people can purchase tickets for,” she said Tuesday. “Tickets for both children and adults are $7, and kids that are 11 months or younger get in for free… that includes breakfast and a special four-by-six photo with Santa.”
She said to help with the hustle and bustle that accompanies a visit with Santa, the center will have time slots set aside for children to enjoy the morning events, including decorating Christmas cookies and the center’s gingerbread house where Santa will be. Those times are from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and noon to 1:30 p.m.
Frost said there are only 165 tickets available per time slot, and they can be purchased at the center or online at www.highlandseniors.com.
Tickets can be obtained with cash or check only at the center, but credit cards can be used on the website. Card transactions include a 50-cent processing fee.
The children and their parents can also watch the reindeer enjoying their treats on the center’s big screen TV via a special live “reindeer cam,” Frost added.
“We’re doing something new this year that involves Santa’s sleigh,” she said. “Santa has to have snow for his sleigh to run on, so this year we’ve saved some of his magical snow that he brought from the North Pole for the kids to search through, and they’ll find candy and all kinds of things in there that fell out of his bag.”
The primary sponsor for the annual event is Fifth Third Bank, along with associate sponsors Humana Healthcare, Heartland of Hillsboro and Walgreen’s.
Co-sponsors are United Dairy Farmers, H&R Block, Wilson National Real Estate, Little Caesar’s Pizza, Lowes Home Improvement, Hunter Family Chiropractic and Edward Jones Investments.
All proceeds benefit the operation of the senior center.
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
