By: Mike Rhodes—
Muncie, IN—If you were out and about Muncie on Wednesday, you couldn’t help but notice The Kishel Elves and Santa spreading good cheer all around town.
The Kishel Elves are Amanda Kishel and her staff from Kishel Photography including Erynne Gemberling, Joni Farmer, and Liz Hartley.
Kishel said this was the fifth year the Kishel Elves have gone around, spreading holiday cheer in Muncie. “The first few years, we just really wanted to spread some Christmas cheer and increase morale for businesses around the downtown area,” she said. “We dressed up as elves and kind of ran around all the businesses and surprised them and took pictures. About three years ago, we decided it would be really fun to surprise people who needed some extra Christmas cheer, and take nominations from the community for our visits.”
This year, Kishel received almost 50 nominations and stories via email and planned out a process to visit people from those nominations in their homes, businesses, and nursing homes. During their visit, the Kishel Elves would read the story nomination to the recipient, give them a bouquet of flowers donated by Foisters Flowers and Gifts and a small box of chocolates, cookies and candy donated by VKA Kitchen and Catering.
This year was the first year that Santa Claus (Jeff Johnson) joined the Kishel Elves on their rounds.
“When we stopped at Muncie Central High School, 4 buses of kids from East Washington Academy arrived to practice their program,” Kishel said. “The kids were absolutely thrilled to accidentally see Santa and a bunch of elves. They were hugging Santa and yelling out how much they loved Santa Claus. That was a really neat part of the day.”
When asked where those awesome elf outfits came from, Kishel laughed and said, “Party City during Halloween.”
Below you can view some of the photographs taken by The Kishel Elves during their rounds yesterday.
