Brett Thoms

Bryson November 12, 2022

Members of the Bryson RA organized a two part Jingle and Mingle event at Stanton’s Forest Inn on Saturday.

The first event was called Santa’s Village and saw 163 kids from all over the Pontiac come in separate blocks of 40 to visit Santa, and cycle through workshops where they could write a letter to Santa, make Christmas crafts, decorate a cupcake and get their faces painted.

Santa’s Village lasted from 10 a.m to 2 p.m, afterwhich the organizers, Maryse Michaud, Chantal Gravelle and five volunteers, had to reorganize the entire building to accommodate 50 vendors for the evening’s Mrs. Claus Market between 6 and 9 p.m.

The market saw over 300 shoppers pass through, with the organizers quickly running out of loyalty cards to pass out. All the vendors were female, with the Mrs. Claus Market being specifically billed as a ladies night market.

Both Michaud and Gravelle were stunned by the success of the duel event, and said they plan to host another next year.