Wellington’s annual Community Christmas Party has come and gone once again, with a packed out Cameron Park the reward for the organiser’s efforts.
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This year the park was host to a bevy of fun rides and games, food and drink and free photos with Santa in the lead up to the community Christmas tree lighting.
Lead organiser Maree Thomas says the goal of the event was simple and hit every mark they were aiming for with the highest attendance for the event yet.
“I really want to pull the whole community together and show that it doesn’t matter what part of the town you’re from or what status you hold, it’s just to bring everyone together to have a nice night of family cheer,” Mrs Thomas said.
It also helped out the new ice cream shop, apparently, they were going to shut at 8 and they stayed open for a while longer because they were just getting hammered.
- Maree Thomas
“The whole night was really good, we had probably six or seven hundred people there, all the way from little babies to parents, it was an event for the whole family.”
Among other things, Mrs Thomas attributes the success of the event to the cost-effective entry and the ease with which locals can travel to it.
“A lot of people here don’t always have access to money or transport, so we try and do something local on a cost effective basis.”
“Often, for Santa photos people have to go to Dubbo, but these ones were free and they didn’t have to make that trip, so that was very good.”
The event, which has now been running for four years, was started to fill an opening in the community’s time in the lead-up to Christmas.
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“It started four years ago, because I saw a need for it. Their used to be a Festivale and a Venetian carnival and I just wanted to bring back some of the told fashioned fun and give kids and families a chance to enjoy themselves,” Mrs Thomas said.
“I’m glad it all went well and I’m glad it’s all over and I’m looking forward to coming back bigger and better in 2019.”