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Panorama Santa is getting new workshop

Fundraiser underway to spruce up display

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Santa is moving to a new workshop and he needs the public’s help to get him there.

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Santa’s workshop, a favourite among the displays at the Simcoe Christmas Panorama, is being renovated after 17 years of being a mainstay display.

The original Santa’s workshop, from the 1960s, was destroyed in a fire and replaced by the current display in 2002. The display needs some touch up after years of being out in all types of weather, suffering wind damage, and vandalism.

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The display features Santa checking his list while his elves are busy making toys around him.

Lucas Wilson and Alice Barnett are among those helping to fix up the display.

“All seven elves need some TLC,” said Wilson. “They need to go to the laundromat and to the hairdresser to get their hair done.”

The elves were purchased from a company that creates store window displays, and they were not created to last 17 years.

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It is expected that each of the elves will take around 10 hours to restore, which is about 100 hours fixing just the elves and Santa alone.

A Go Fund Me has been put up at gofundme.com/santasnewworkshop. The funds will go towards a new trailer bed, display case, complete restoration of all seven elves and Santa, creating a new interior design, and adding new special effects and props. The goal of the fundraiser is $10,000. It currently has just under $400.

“We run off of donations and sponsorship from local companies,” said Wilson. “We need help. When we say we can’t do this alone, we literally mean we cannot do it alone.”

“We’re really calling on the community to help,” added Barnett.

At this year’s Panorama there is a temporary workshop showing off two of Santa’s elves that have been fully restored as a sneak peek of what is to come for the new and improved Santa’s workshop.

The Panorama committee is always looking for volunteers willing to help paint, repair, or build display. To apply for this volunteer work visit the simcoepanorama.ca website.

astaylor@postmedia.com

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