Posted: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 2:47 pm

The recent 25th annual Santa’s Village, Dec. 10-13, at Ned McWherter Agricultural Complex at the University of Tennessee at Martin, recorded the second largest attendance in the event’s history with 13,033 visitors. Food and toy donations totaled $47,034.
Santa’s Village featured 26,000 square feet of lights, holiday displays and continuous entertainment. Admission was the donation of $5 of food items or toys.
Santa’s Village gets off to a good start each year with food provided by Weakley County schools, via the WCMT can caravan. WCMT reported a total of 11,223 canned goods collected this year.
“On behalf of the City of Martin and the University of Tennessee at Martin, we once again would like to extend our thanks to the volunteers who implement Santa’s Village and the visitors who have donated food and toys to help people in the area have a good Christmas,” said Brian Moore, Martin Parks and Recreation Department director. 
Service agencies receiving food and toys collected at Santa’s Village this year include: Chimes for Charity, We Care Ministries, Obion County Chapter American Red Cross, Santa’s Helpers, Northwest Tennessee Economic Development Council, Department of Children’s Services and Weakley County Head Start.
Co-sponsors for the event are the City of Martin and UT Martin. Additional sponsors of the event included: University Plaza, Hamilton-Ryker, First State, Frontier, MTD Products, Tyson Foods and Volunteer Community Hospital.
For more information, contact Martin Parks and Recreation Department at 731-587-6784.