Santa Claus made his annual stop in Mundelein, as the village hosted its annual “Santa’s Cottage at Village Hall” and welcomed hundreds of families with photo opportunities and goody bags.
Santa made an appearance Dec. 3, Dec. 4 and Dec. 11, allowing families and children to visit with him and take photos. While the event is billed as a drive-thru one due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Santa greeted most of the families at their vehicles, officials said.
“It was a magical day,” Mayor Steve Lentz told Pioneer Press.
The event is put on by the Mundelein Community Connection, which organizes several downtown events in the village throughout the year. Mike Flynn, president of the Mundelein Community Connection, said Santa’s Cottage at Village Hall dates back to the mid-20th century. After decades of it not taking place , the holiday celebration was picked up again in the 1990s and has been held every year since.
This year was still a bit of a departure from the norm. Like last year, officials decided to host a drive-thru event again due to COVID-19, Flynn said. He explained that turnout was strong, nevertheless.
Dec. 3, which is when the village hosted its tree lighting and several other activities, saw multiple families come out for the festivities. The following day, however, there was a dip in attendance, with only about two dozen vehicles passing through. Both Flynn and Lentz speculated that it was due to bad weather.
“It was kind of a really gray day,” Flynn said.
The following weekend, though, saw a rebound, with a couple hundred families making the trip out Dec. 11, Flynn said.
As part of Santa’s Cottage, Santa and his elves help give out goody bags containing candy and knickknacks. Flynn said the village gave out more than 250 goody bags Dec 11. Those they did not give out will be donated to the Mundelein Police Department, which will distribute them at their own future events, Flynn said.
“We just had a steady stream of people … for three hours,” Flynn said.
Another major part of the annual event is the “Letters to Santa,” which encourages children to bring their letters for St. Nick and drop them off in a mailbox. As a result, children are promised a response from Santa. Lentz said officials are still processing what he called a “record number of letters.”
Flynn said the last of the letters will be picked up around Dec. 20, but late letters before Dec. 25 may still be picked up.
“Get your letters in before Christmas,” Flynn said.
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