Top row from left: Santa (Tom Bragg), Mikey Hoffer, Cooper Feuling, Sophie Kate Syndergaard, Paulina Perez Roque, Sophia Calles Ramirez, and Kyle Allen. Front row from left: Vanessa Villegas, Alex Munoz-Moreno, Jackie Estrada Diaz. On the floor: Grinch (Joe Pavlov).
Over 300 children, parents, and grandparents attended the first and very festive chamber breakfast with Santa held at the Governor’s Mansion on Dec. 16.
Co-sponsored by United Federal Credit Union, the event turned out to be a huge success. Children lined up to visit with Santa (Tom Bragg) while being photographed by their parents, and the Grinch (Joe Paslov) was his true self tormenting and entertaining the kids, much to their delight.
So many families dressed up for the occasion, and it was truly a multi-generational family affair. Thanks to the cash donation from UFCU, the cost of the event was $5 per person.
Thirteen Carson High leadership students volunteered to serve the guests and were a great asset to the overall event. For their efforts, chamber members donated gift cards that were raffled off to benefit the CHS leadership events. Not shown in the photo were Viviana Castro, Leah Shine, Jose Avina, Jordan Brubaker.
Thanks go to The Fox Brewery, Red’s Old 395, and Nashville Social Club for donating gift certificates. Guy Farmer donated two 100th anniversary Mickey Mouse dolls. The chamber was able to issue a check in the amount of $535 to the Leadership fund.
Thanks to the new management at Carson City’s Galaxy Theater, general manager Anthony Angeles and assistant manager Samuel Tripp presented each guest with a guest pass much to the surprise and delight of all.
Gold Dust West donated the pancake mix and the wonderful volunteer chefs from the Elks Club, Carol Parks and Dan Lively along with Eric Brooks, arts director for the Carson City Visitor’s Bureau, cooked up the best pancakes this side of the Mississippi along with sausages.
Linda Marrone taught the high schoolers how to serve. Assemblyman PK O’Neill and wife Nancy, and chamber board member Cliff Sorenson took their stints as servers and the clean-up crew.
Board member Teri Preston helped with the check-in and the serving of cocoa and coffee. Anna Ramirez and Jenny Haas from Friends to All donned their holiday attire to assist Santa as children lined up. Staff from UFCU assisted where needed as well.
Special thanks to the Carson City Symphony Choir who provided caroling outside to welcome the guests thus setting the overall festive tone for the event.
Special kudos to assistant mansion coordinator and chef Cindy Trejo and her wonderful crew for all the help in making this a great first-time event. It took many volunteers, kind donors, and great cooks to make this first-time event one of the merriest. Those in attendance hope this will be an annual event.