Nearly 200 people attended the Kiwanis Club of Paris-Brant’s eighth annual Breakfast with Santa at St. James Anglican Church in Paris on Saturday, November 29, 2025.
Volunteers like Aakash Nayi spent their morning serving up hot pancakes, sausages, juice and coffee to families, while Santa mingled with the youngsters and posed for photos.
The event, which began in 2017, originally started out with just one seating but has since grown into a popular event for young families looking to enjoy a festive start to the holidays.
The club now offers two sessions to choose from, one at 9 a.m. and the other at 11 a.m., both of which often sell out weeks in advance.
“The turnout this year has been amazing, we had about 95 or 96 people here for our first sitting, and around the same for the second,” said Wendy Eveleigh, Kiwanis club president. “It’s always nice to see so many happy families come out, and the kids were just so excited to see Santa.”
She added that over the years, the event has become something that many people in the community look forward to.
“It’s a special event because not only does it bring families together to enjoy a meal and see Santa, but it’s affordable too,” explained Eveleigh. “One woman actually told me this morning that she and her family were so thankful for that because they wouldn’t be able to come otherwise. So we’re really happy that we can do this for the community.”
As a non-profit organization with the sole purpose to give back to local children, the club wouldn’t be able to offer the event at the price that it does without the support of sponsorship, said the president.
“The coffee is complimentary from Tim Hortons on Rest Acres Road and the sausages came from our local Sobeys,” said Eveleigh. “We also got a gift card to purchase all the other things that we needed from No Frills, so our sponsors are really important and they’ve all been supporting us for years so we’re very thankful for that.”
David Mychajluk and Stephanie Rowe, who brought their three-year-old son Luxon to the second sitting, said the breakfast has become a tradition for their little family.
“It’s a great community event and it’s just nice for my little guy because he really loves Santa,” said Rowe. “It’s fun to kind of get him dressed up and keep that tradition going, plus we love the food and it’s nice to support the Kiwanis Club.”
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.
