Community comes to Eagles Club for Christmas party

Havre Eagles Club once again held a Christmas Party free for the community, with a number of activities, raffles and a chance for children to see Santa Claus.

Janet Morsette, who was at the event with her daughter, Caylee, and said they were having a fun day at the event. Morsette said she and her daughter have come to the event for a number of years and usually have a fun time. She added that it is important the community has events like the Eagles Christmas Party because it gives children and families something to do for the holidays.

"It's important to have things like this for the children," she said.

Jacob Hawley was also at the event with his daughter Kaylynn. He said it was their first time at the event, but they thought it was a great and would want to come back next year. He said that the most important thing for him during the holidays is to make his daughter happy.

"That's all I want," he said.

He added that his daughter wanted to come to the event because she wanted to see Santa.

"I love Santa," Kaylynn Hawley said. 

She added that she likes Santa because he can fly and he has reindeer, and also because he brings presents. She said that she has already seen Santa at the event and he even gave her an early Christmas present. She said she has been a good girl all year and asked him for a lot of cool stuff.

Jacob Hawley said that the Christmas Party is a good event because it brings people in the community together and brings people together for the holidays.

He added that his goal every Christmas is to spend as much time with his daughter as possible.

"It's just me and her," he said, adding that his favorite part about Christmas is seeing how happy she is when she is opening her presents.

Havre Eagles Auxiliary President Candace Dess said said she enjoys offering the party, which had more than 165 participants this year.

"My favorite part is seeing the kids come and have fun and the parents just being able to just relax, they are able to have a family fun afternoon," she said.

She added that this year's event went very well and she was happy to see so many people come out for the event. She said that the Eagles was also able to raise a good amount of funds for the event and were able to do more activities and give more things away this year.

The event had a lot of things to offer families, she said, and every child was able to leave with a gift and every family was able to get a free lunch. The event is open to everyone in the community and all walks of life, and people do not have to be members of the Eagles Club to participate. She added that the event is held at the Eagles Club but it is funded by donations and the community.

Dess said she also wanted to thank the volunteers who made the event a success. She added that this year they were able to serve more than 165 people.

"The little ones get so excited, and they are always so happy with whatever they get," she said. "Their faces light up and it's just awesome to see."

She said her favorite part about the event is seeing the children interact with Santa. This year, Santa also gave a present to every child at the event.

"To me it's just important to have something that is free in our community," Dess said. "Somewhere you can come and bring your kids, you don't have to worry and just for them to have just a really nice time and the smiles."

Last Wednesday, Dess said, the Havre Eagle Riders went around the community asking businesses for donations. She added that it went really well and thanks to those donations they were able to put on a wonderful party for everyone in the community.

Mick Linderman, who was playing Santa at the event, said that he was a second year volunteer at the event and he was having a good time. 

Dess said that Linderman is a great Santa, coming with his own beard and suit. She added that the children really enjoy seeing him.  

Marge Miller, who was volunteering and handing presents out with Santa, said she enjoys seeing how happy all the children are when they see Santa and get their presents, adding that it means a lot to them.

Linderman said that he enjoys seeing and spending time with all the different children. He added that when he was working he never had time to do things like the Christmas Party, but now that he is retired he decided that being Santa was something he wanted to do.