Santa drops in
By Wendy Soloduik

Santa drops Claus parachuted into Cookstown last week.

Last Saturday, Santa abandoned his sleigh in favour of a parachute, and "dropped in" to say Merry Christmas to his friends at the Cookstown Airport.

Awaiting his arrival were a number of curious children who wanted to make sure Santa and his three helpers didn't hurt themselves, in their warm-up descent to Simcoe County prior to the big day.

"This is the 20th year for this event," said Joe Chow, owner of Skydive Toronto, located at the Cookstown Airport.

"It started for us when we had attended another Christmas event, and Santa failed to show-up.

"It didn't take long for us to decide what to do to put the smiles back on the children's faces, and we've been doing this ever since."

Prior to St. Nick's arrival, children decorated gingerbread cookies, coloured pictures of Santa wearing a parachute and wrote letters to Santa.

When air traffic control noticed a "blurp" on the screen, the party moved outdoors, where everyone could see the jolly fat-man fall from the sky.

Once safely on the ground, Santa had pictures taken with the happy children.

He also collected his letters, before returning to the North Pole.