By: Mike Rhodes—
Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas!
The Muncie Fire Department is hosting the 24th Annual Tiny Adams Memorial Christmas Event for local children today, Christmas Eve, from 11am to 5pm at the downtown fire station training center directly behind fire station #1 at 421 East Jackson Street.
Every child that attends will receive a FREE picture with Santa, hot chocolate and cookies, a candy cane, and a gift. 40 bicycles that have been donated by the fire fighters will be given away to good little girls and boys. The annual event usually sees 600 to 800 children visit with Santa and his helpers. The event is free for the community.
Eddie Bell, Chief of the Muncie Fire Department said, “We’ve done this for 24 years now. Every Christmas Eve from 11am-5pm, Santa stops by the fire station for FREE pictures with every child that wants to come. The kids get a gift, some treats and hot chocolate. Every year, we have hundreds of kids and parents who come, just to enjoy the environment. It’s just a great thing.”
Chief Bell said the annual program was started many years ago. The first year, they had 13 kids. In recent years, up to about 750+ kids and their parents come to see Santa.
“Every year it gets larger,” he said. Each and every year we work through the local school systems and daycare centers to let people know about it. So, now we are really well known for this event. This year it took us about 3 days to get everything setup. ”
Monique Campbell from Yorktown was first in line this morning. “We’ve never been to this event before, so we came at 8am this morning just to make sure we had a good place in line.”
And just in case, if you’re wondering about Santa spending so much time in Muncie today, there’s no need to worry. He will get to your house. He can zip around at the speed of light.
A few photos of today’s event are below. The event continues until 5pm, Christmas eve.
