Destination Chesterfield and Chesterfield Borough Council’s Christmas experience – The Amazing Magical Santa House – has been hailed a major success after bringing smiles to everyone who went along to meet Santa.
The Amazing Magical Chesterfield Santa House in the town centre, is where the magic technology known as the ‘Santa Zoomer’ – a video link to chat with Santa – was set up and 750 families enjoyed a spectacular start to their Christmas.
As well as the live chat with Santa, families took part in a special augmented reality experience in which Santa magically appeared creating a keepsake photo and video for the family.
Feedback on social media, includes ‘we came this morning and were blown away! Thank you so much. It was fantastic.’
And ‘Looks beautiful inside. Very happy kids and love that I have a photo and video of the experience with Santa’.
Chesterfield Borough Council has now released a video which gives a look inside the Santa House, showing the joy it brought to families:
Councillor Kate Sarvent, cabinet member for town centres and visitor economy at Chesterfield Borough Council, said: “The Santa House is just what was needed this year. It has given hundreds of families such joy to start Christmas with. We’ve had comments about very happy kids and that is exactly what we set out to achieve.
“It has been a tough year for many of us and this amazing experience, the elf trail and some spectacular Christmas lights have given Chesterfield the magical Christmas it needed.
“We’ve worked with some fantastic local companies to make the Santa House become a reality and it has been great to see the creative, innovative and hardworking talent that exists right here in Chesterfield come together to make this a very special Christmas.
“Overall this Christmas campaign has supported a wide range of town centre businesses by increasing footfall into the town centre and raising awareness of the fantastic offer that exists in Chesterfield town centre for residents, shoppers and visitors.”
The council has worked with a number of local companies to bring the Christmas campaign life. These include JAB Short, providing the town centre shop for the Santa House; Chesterfield Champions Noonah Marketing, providing the augmented reality technology; and Tabs productions, providing the visual interpretation and dressing at the Santa House.
Matt Franks, CEO of Noonah.com, said “After a year with many events cancelled, the work on Chesterfield Santa House we delivered for Chesterfield Borough Council was a fantastic example of showcasing the talent of Noonah and many other local companies. On the back of this project we’ve started to grow again which is great news for our team. Our message to all business owners is hang on in there – the work will come back!”
Karen Henson, Director, Tabs Productions, said: “It was great to be involved with the Amazing Magical Chesterfield Santa House, helping Chesterfield Borough Council bring this amazing idea to life. It has been a hard year for us with the pandemic and usually we would be at our busiest working on Christmas shows, so not only has it been magical to work on the Santa House, but it has really helped us as a small local business move through this difficult year.”
Peter Swallow, Chair of Destination Chesterfield said “In these challenging times it has never been more important to support each other. I am delighted that Destination Chesterfield and Chesterfield Borough Council have continued this year to work collaboratively on the Christmas in Chesterfield Campaign. Combining our efforts will reinforce the Support Local message. Making the decision to choose an independent retailer for your gifts and food both now and beyond the pandemic will make a huge difference to our high street.”
Chesterfield Borough Council, in partnership with Destination Chesterfield, created the magical story of the Chesterfield Elves and how they saved Christmas, to deliver the Amazing Magical Chesterfield Santa House.
The story can be downloaded from https://www.chesterfield.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Low-Res-Storybook.pdf and is the perfect bedtime story for families this Christmas.
Our website – www.chesterfield.co.uk/christmas has everything you need to know about Christmas in Chesterfield
