Story and photos by Carol Montana
ELDRED, NY (December 14, 2010) — It was a weekend filled with all-things-Santa in the hamlet of Eldred in Sullivan County, NY.
Saturday, December 11 saw the sixth year of the Santa Express and Sunday was the day that Santa’s Workshop and Dance Party was held at the Eldred Preserve.
Both events were put together by Santa’s helper extraordinaire, Lou Monteleone.
This was the sixth year for the Santa Express, a 40-foot long, 12-foot high flatbed truck with a lighted sleigh, reindeer, miniature houses, and even a mailbox that guarantees a child’s letter will be delivered straight to the North Pole. The Express comes complete with a megawatt sound system, a gazillion lights, a GPS system, seven-foot lighted Christmas tree, and sleigh bells on reindeer’s harnesses.
The first stop was at The Piazza in Eldred, where there is a large-scale Santa Village. After that, the Santa Express traveled the roads to the towns of Glen Spey, Yulan and Narrowsburg, delighting hundreds of children along the way.
At each stop, Santa and Mrs. Claus handed out special gifts to the children, while several elves passed out reindeer food. Santa reports that this year the total number of gifts he handed out from The Santa Express exceeded 450.
Santa’s Workshop & Dance Party
A large party room at the Eldred Preserve Restaurant served as Santa’s Workshop where a capacity crowd of children (assisted by their parents) created two toys each.
One toy was given to Santa to deliver to another child who might otherwise go without one. The other toy the child got to take home. Strewn around the tables were parts of wooden boats, trains and school buses.
At the big moment, Santa and Mrs. Claus entered the room in a sleigh pulled by none other than Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Also accompanying the Clauses were Frosty, the Christmas Mouse and several other Christmas characters.
As the children worked on their toys, Santa and the Mrs. visited each table, and then posed for pictures with the children on the Santa throne.
Throughout the party, merry holiday music played. And after the toys were made, Santa called all the children up to dance with him, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, the elves and the others.
As if that weren’t enough, the children were then invited to decorate two trees with ornaments handed out by Santa’s elves.
Out in the main part of the restaurant, Santa’s sleigh afforded an opportunity for more special photos of the children.
To see more photos or to purchase prints from A Santa-Filled Weekend in Eldred, visit The Catskill Chronicle on Zenfolio.
Carol,
Thank you for capturing the Magic of the weekend. One I will never forget. Great Job!
You are very welcome, Lou. You did a great job, too, as did Santa and Mrs. Claus. A true community event.
Great story.
Thank you for the positive feedback. So glad you liked the story. The children had a blast, and I’m pretty sure that Santa and Mrs. Claus were enjoying themselves, too.