Well over 300 people attended the Brantford Flying Club’s Santa Fly-In event at the Brantford Municipal Airport on Saturday, December 6, 2025.
While the club used to host the event for its members’ children many years ago, last year’s Santa Fly-In was the first time they opened it to the public.
“There would maybe be 30 to 40 children here back in those days, but last year was our first big community event and we had around 200 or so people,” said Rita Richter, one of the event’s co-organizers. “This year the turnout has been amazing, I would guess we have well over 300 here today. We did have about 600 people register but I think the cold weather likely deterred some families from coming out, but we’re happy.”
As the event got underway, the children and their adults gathered air-side as they waited with anticipation for Father Christmas to arrive.
Bundled up in their coats, snowpants, hats and mittens, the youngsters played on some nearby hay bales and posed for photos with the holiday-themed décor just outside of the SkyWay Café.
The sound of excitement suddenly filled the air when attendees finally spotted the man of the hour, shouting and waving to Santa and his trusty head elf high in the sky.
Once on the ground, and after greeting his wife Mrs. Claus, Santa began jingling his bells and wishing everyone a “Merry Christmas!” before later leading the excited youngsters into the main hangar.
As the man in the big red suit got settled in, many families lined up to take photos with Jolly old St. Nick. Others, who chose to wait for the crowd to thin out, did so by indulging in hot chocolate, coffee and snacks, making ornaments, sending off their letters to Santa, or heading back to the main building to get their faces painted.
Sarah Evans, who brought along her daughter Scarlett Andrew, 10, and her son Cole Andrew, 5, said it was their first time attending the event.
“I thought it was super fun, and it was really cool to actually be out by the runway like that,” said Evans. “Also, having two kids with two different interests, him being interested in planes, and her being interested in Santa, it really covered all the bases for us. I think it’s just been a great event and I don’t think a lot of people realize that Brantford has an airport so this is a great way to see it.”
When asked what she thought of seeing Santa flying into Brantford, Scarlett said it was a blast.
“I think it was awesome and also very cold!” she said with a laugh. “But it was really cool and fun to do.”
The youngster was particularly excited to show off her new pink angel ornament and to take a picture alongside Santa with her mother and grandmother, or as she referred to them, “the three generations.”
Richter, noting that it was nice to see that many of the guests brought along donations for the food drive, said she was happy to have pulled off another successful event for the community.
“Out of all the events that I put on, this is the most rewarding because there’s just so many smiling faces,” she said. “It’s just an amazing feeling and we’re happy to do it.”
She added that the event just wouldn’t have been possible without all the people who volunteered throughout the morning and into the afternoon.
“One of the things that I think is important, is that this is completely run by volunteers, which is huge,” said Richter “We probably have about 40 volunteers here today, and another 20 Air Cadets, who are here making this happen, so we’re very thankful for them.”
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.
