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Santa Claus crash lands in Nelson

The Nelson Star met up with the benevolent bearded North Pole native.
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Santa Claus crash landed in the Kootenays this week.

Santa Claus has crash landed in the Kootenays.

“I’ve got to train the reindeer for the big day that’s coming up real soon. The mountain range down in the Kootenays is one of the best for arctic flying training,” the North Pole native told the Star.

“I gotta tell you, this new batch of reindeer, one wrong turn and BOOM! We landed with such a crash we splashed magic everywhere. You probably know when we landed, because it started snowing in Nelson.”

So Claus spent some time in town while his sleigh was getting fixed up, even making time to go skiing up at Whitewater incognito. He then spent some time in Lakeside Park, where he ran into local youngsters Emile and Julianne Zibeau with their mother (pictured below).

“I heard Lakeside Park has one of the best Canada Day celebrations ever, and it’s beautiful in the summertime. I’m going to have to come back with Mrs. Claus. I even heard you can ride a streetcar!”

To get acquainted with the town, Claus swung by the visitor centre in the recently-renovated CPR station building at the foot of Baker St.

“It’s so beautiful—they have all this beautiful information about Nelson, and now people can come in and learn all about it.”

According to Claus, Nelson currently has some of the “best children, bar none.”

“They love to give, they love to share and they work hard. I love coming to Nelson because there are so many great stops here. I love dropping in and giving kids a wonderful surprise.”

And if you’re worried about which list you’ll ultimately end on, the Good or the Bad, you needn’t worry.

“Every person has a chance to be good or bad. If there’s a kid out there that knows they’ve done a little bit of bad, been a little naughty, there’s always a chance to make it up and be good.”

Claus also swung by the Nelson fire hall, where he spent time with Fire Chief Len MacCharles, firefighters Leo Grypma and Marc Thibault, as well as Angela Tocher (pictured below).

“That’s one of my favourite things about coming to Nelson is riding in the bucket of the fire engine so I can turn on the lights of Baker St. It’s so much fun.”

Claus said if you don’t know what to get your loved ones for Christmas, the best thing you can do is share a smile, or even a laugh.

“If you can give, if you can share, if you can make someone laugh—that’s the best Christmas cheer you can do, so get out there and make someone smile.”

Claus concluded the interview with his signature deep belly-jiggling chuckle: "Hohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohoho!"