Who needs a sleigh?

Santa marks 20 years of flying into town

By: Jake Uitti
   MONTGOMERY — Santa Claus landed at Princeton Airport on Saturday, making good on his promise of delivering joy to children for the Christmas holiday.
   Hundreds of people waited for Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick in the large service hangar of the airport, listening to folk singer Pat McKinley sing Christmas songs on her 12-string guitar. Some children were climbing on the 1951 fire truck brought to the site by John Rawson, others were using the time to drink cocoa with marshmallows distributed by the Princeton Airport Flying Tigers.
   When 11 o’clock struck, the doors of the hangar spread open, and a bright Christmas Eve day showed itself. Santa flew in shortly after in a red-and-white plane that wowed the crowd with loops and trick-stunts before it landed.
   Cries of "Santa! It’s Santa!" came from the crowd, often from some of the parents, as the North Pole resident came into view.
   Saturday marked the 20th year of Santa’s flying into Princeton Airport, which sponsors the occasion both for the parents and kids, as well as for charity.
   The airport works in conjunction with Mercer County Social Services by collecting gifts from parents — one wrapped and one unwrapped. The unwrapped gift is given to MCSS to be distributed to less-fortunate families in Mercer County, while the wrapped gift is distributed by Santa at the airport on Christmas Eve to the child of the parent who brought in the gifts.
   "We have so much, we all should give back," said Naomi Nierenberg, one of the airport’s operators.
   MCSS received clothes, toys, books and much more. "Some buy as if it were for their own children, or better," Ms. Nierenberg said. "The county had to come back with two trucks, we filled them both."
   People from all over come to the airport to be a part of the experience, Ms. Nierenberg said.
   The service hangar was packed with people singing songs, ringing bells, eating Christmas cookies, and hanging off the bright red fire truck — the kind one might hope to see in miniature form under a tree on Christmas.
   "Let’s sing so Santa knows we’re here," Ms. McKinley said before going into "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."