Below is a contribution from GMPT Member the Mesabi Trail. For more information, please visit mesabitrail.com.…
Member Highlight: Wright County Santa Photos
Below is a contribution from GMPT Member Wright County. For more information, please visit www.co.wright.mn.us/132/Parks-Recreation.
We all remember the nightmares of programming during COVID. It presented many different challenges and scenarios that we had never experienced before. No one expected it to last as long as it did, and as we approached the end of 2020, our department noticed that many people were canceling their regularly scheduled Santa events. As expected, there was a lot of strife that came along with that. With parks and recreation, we sometimes take on roles where we fill a need when no one else will. That is what happened here at Wright County Parks & Recreation in December 2020. We never expected to get into hosting Santa at one of our parks, let alone during COVID, but that is precisely what happened.
The first year of the program was “Social Distance Santa Pictures.” Our department had just finished the construction of the overlook of Long Lake within Bertram Chain of Lakes Regional Park, the campground office, and camper cabins. We were looking at ways to let people know about the new facilities at the park, and when we noticed the cancellation of Santa events in Wright County, we landed on the idea of the “Social Distanced Santa Pictures.”
We worked with the city of Monticello and developed a plan to make this happen. The entire program came together in less than a month, and we were fortunate enough to secure sponsors for Santa and the photographer in that first year.
The weather cooperated, and we had beautiful conditions on the day of the event, which was the first Saturday in December. The program was set up to take on a few families every half hour, and we held the program at the new overlook to keep everything outdoors. With that, we could have more than one household in the area but still had to maintain the distance between them as they waited for their time with Santa. The hardest part was keeping kids from running right up to Santa. On the overlook, we were able to maintain all COVID guidelines. We hoped that it would go well, but had no idea how successful the program would be. We filled every registration spot that year and had so many happy families and kids in attendance.
After the first year, COVID restrictions were lifted, and due to the program’s success, we decided to keep the Santa photos on our schedule. This year will be our 5th year running the event. The same Santa has been back every year, and we have expanded the program not only include Santa, but horsedrawn carriage rides, a campfire, and s’mores.
We are now able to get more families through, and 56 families regularly attend the program, which ends up being around 300 people every year. We take four families every 15 minutes, and this limited number during the time frame is something that we have kept from the original plan.
We heard so many positive comments about the fact that families knew when they needed to be there and didn’t have to wait in line for hours. They could show up a little early, take a carriage ride, get their Santa pictures, and make a s’more, all in less than an hour. There are families’ that are now counting on this program every year and even bring their adult children to do family pictures with Santa. There is nothing greater in our work than to see smiles on families faces as they create lasting memories within our parks and programs.
For any questions about the program or how everything came together, please contact Carson Law at carson.law@co.wright.mn.us or Brad Harrington at Bradley.harrington@co.wright.mn.us.
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