The Pine River Fire Department (PRFD) announced a completely free marketing campaign for Merrill area businesses as they once again present “Santa in the Fire House” 2021. This will take place at the Pine River Fire Department on Dec. 11, 2021.
In 2019, the PRFD held their very first Santa in the Fire House and saw around 65 children come through and get their pictures taken with Santa in front of their fire engine. “At the time we solicited some area businesses and sought out just a couple of sponsors to help us pay for Santa, the two bikes we gave away, and the candy content of our ‘swag bags’ which each child received,” said PRFD Captain Mike Caylor.
“For their small donation, participating businesses put in those bags things like notepads with their logo or coupons to be used during the holiday season. Each of the businesses reported they saw numerous coupons come back over the course of the next few weeks and each asked to be considered for future sponsors.”
Then came COVID.
“After an extremely successful open house this past September, our best ever – we have decided to cover the entire cost of Santa in the Fire House,” Caylor said. “However, we still want our friends in the business community to be able to be involved.”
“Our open house and pig roast is our only fundraiser the entire year,” he continued. “We realize that, in part because of the strong support of the Merrill business community, we are able to produce an event such as that very successfully. We hope by providing this opportunity to promote your business right before the holiday season, we can help pay back the support you have shown to us.”
Anticipating business owners’ next question, Caylor continued: “So what can you throw in? As I said, some just did a handy item with their logo, some stores had 10% off coupons, and the Northwood’s Maple and More store gave us over 100 maple syrup suckers (which we may have sampled ourselves).”
Businesses interested in participating or with additional questions can contact the “Santa in the Fire House 2021” organizer, PRFD Captain Mike Caylor, at 715.297.4309 or via email at [email protected].
“The absolute deadline for getting material in for distribution is Dec. 9,” Caylor added. “This will be advertised locally, and we will create a FaceBook event that we will update with local participants as it draws near. We look forward to continuing our community partnership this Holiday Season!”