Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Eastern Maumee Bay Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Maumee Bay Lodge and Mercy Health, will present the fifth annual Cookies with Santa event on Dec. 12-13 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. each day.
The Maumee Bay Lodge & Conference Center, located at 1750 Park Rd. in Oregon, will be the host site for the event, which serves as a toy drive and fun event for children in the community.
“It started out pretty small, and it literally snowballed into a full-fledged community tradition for a lot of families,” the chamber’s executive director, Jen Kurtovic, said. “It's been kind of nice to see returning families every year because they really enjoy it.”
The event has grown from around 200 attendees in 2021 to around 800 last year. With that growth, the need for volunteers has also expanded significantly.
In 2021, the event had four volunteers for a one‑day event. In 2022, they expanded to two days, and they continued to grow each year. This year, they’ll have 20 volunteers each day to keep everything running smoothly.
The family-oriented event will feature an appearance from Santa and Mrs. Claus, and a slew of other attractions for kids.
“We have cookies. We have a hot cocoa station,” Kurtovic said. “The lodge plays holiday music in the background and has Christmas movies on the TVs in the lobby. The fireplaces are going. We have a holiday obstacle course. We've got Imagination Station joining us new for this year. They're going to be doing a spin art activity with the kids.
“We've got an ornament making station so kids can get creative and make their own ornament, take it home with them that night, and put on their tree. We have a little scavenger hunt that we do.
“There's just nothing like it in the area, and that's kind of what was my idea in creating this event. But what makes it special is we have that portion of it, and then on the flip side, it also serves as a regional toy drive.”
That toy drive features the Eastern Maumee Bay Chamber of Commerce partnering with local schools and organizations in the chamber’s footprint.
Kurtovic said each of those groups have their own list of kids or families that might have extra needs around the holidays, or kids that might have the risk of going without, and her organization supplies them with toy drop-offs.
This year, the chamber is partnering with eight of those organizations and schools, including Oregon Health and Welfare, East Broadway Elementary, Oakdale Elementary, Lake Local Schools, Jerusalem Elementary, Northwood Elementary, Cardinal Stritch, and Isaiah 117 House.
Several businesses and organizations are also hosting toy drives in support of Cookies with Santa, including the Oregon Fire & Rescue Department, Mr. Emblem, ES Wagner, Hillabrand & Sons Construction, St. Charles, the Oregon Economic Development Foundation, Dan Calmes State Farm, and Brian Davis State Farm.
“This year, one thing that I am really proud of is we've had a huge uptick and a great response from local businesses wanting to get involved and do toy drives to support the event, which has been great,” Kurtovic said. “With our goal to expand the toy drive every year and help more kids, that was one thing that was always on my mind — how do we get more toys at this event?”
Other sponsors and partners include SD Capital as the ornament station sponsor, Dan Calmes State Farm as the hot cocoa sponsor, Oregon Clean Energy as the holiday obstacle course sponsor, and Farmhouse Photography as the provider of the Santa photos.
Kurtovic said the chamber is also excited that Oregon’s own Mike Armstrong will be baking 800 cookies for the event. She said he has been baking for the event since year one and has been “fantastic.”
The event is free for people to attend. They just ask that attendees bring a new toy as a way to pay it forward and help the event grow.
“We want to stress that it's a free community event,” Kurtovic said. “We want everybody to come and enjoy. We also want them to bring a toy so we can help with the toy drive portion as we're giving back to more and more families every year.
“This is a super, super special event to me. I just love it.”
