By Mikayla van Loon
Mount Evelyn residents if you haven’t been able to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus yet, then you’re in luck.
He’s coming to town and he’s making a pit stop in Seville for one afternoon only.
Branded Burgers and Bar sent out the invitation to the big man in red to see if he could spare an afternoon on Sunday 12 December, to which he accepted.
Co-owner Gina Braidner said the event is completely free for the community to enjoy.
“Everyone’s more than welcome, everyone’s welcome to come along and say hello,” she said.
“They don’t need to book if they are just coming to visit and they can certainly stroll along. Santa’s got a gift for everybody.”
With his big red chair accompanying him, Santa is prepared and ready to go for photos on the day, in fact he encourages it, just bring your own camera.
The North Pole post box has also been set up since 16 November, with a select number of Santa’s postcards and Christmas stamps for children to colour and send before the day.
In previous years, Ms Braidner said the afternoon with Santa event has been much bigger but a lack of space has meant Branded Burgers had to downscale it for this year.
“In previous years we’ve always tried to get a dinner with Santa for the children. And then last year, we decided to do the full Santa studio because we had a vacant shop next door.
“We ran that through the month of December, up until Christmas, which was a huge event where we raised $36,000 for charity. This year, we didn’t have the space but decided we could get him in for a day.”
The event gets started at 11am and goes until 4pm, with Santa giving out little gifts all afternoon.
Ms Braidner said people are certainly welcome to just come to see Santa but if people want to stay for a meal, it is recommended that they book.
