Santa Claus disembarks during the 2016 Santa Run. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Christmas tradition continues

Santa plans modified gift run for Northern communities

Nov 23, 2020 | 1:03 PM

Santa Claus is still coming to town.

Father Christmas is preparing to return to several Northern Saskatchewan communities next week to deliver gifts as part of Transwest airline’s annual Santa flight. However, because of the pandemic, kids won’t have the chance to sit on the jolly old man’s knee, or even see him. Instead, Saint Nick will quietly drop pre-organized packages of presents off at airports for educators in the communities to distribute.

Tracy Young-Mclean, vice president of human resources at Transwest, told paNOW it was important for the airline to continue the twenty-year-old tradition, even in a modified way.

“You can tell the children get so excited when they see Santa,” she said. “And it’s something we’ve done for many many years and we want to keep doing that and continue to bring joy.”

There will be no photo opportunities with Santa this year. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

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“Our philosophy is to support the youth in the communities in which we live and work,” she said.

With the consolidation of West Wind Aviation and Transwest Air, this year’s flight combines the former’s Christmas in the North and the latter’s Santa Run to create “Santa in the North.”

Santa is set to visit Wollaston Lake, Stony Rapids, Black Lake, Uranium City and Fond Du Lac on Dec. 4.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom