Over a hundred people attended Cookies with Kris Kringle at Cedarholm, showing how folks can hit the green year-round

By Kinsey Gade

Roseville’s Cedarholm Golf Course hosted a kids’ Cookies and Cocoa with Kris Kringle event on Saturday.

The event consisted of two sessions, each hosting 40 kids and their parents for coloring, cookie decorating, paper garland making, cookies, hot chocolate, snacks and pictures with Santa Claus. Over 100 people in total paid a visit.

This year marks the eighth anniversary of the event, according to Sean McDonagh, the Cedarholm’s superintendent. He said over the years the demand and attendance of the event has grown, which led them to add a second session.

“We have so many repeat families and kids who come back year after year,” McDonagh said. “They just love it. It’s awesome.”

Carol Hansen, a volunteer who has been helping since year one, said the event is not only fun for the kids, but for the parents too, serving as a way for the community to get together during the Christmas season.

“It’s become a communal event,” Hansen said. “It’s nice to see the interactions between all the parents and grandparents.”

The event is also a way to get the community to the golf course during the winter, advertising the space for their wintertime activities like cross country skiing and snowshoeing. These activities are free for the people who bring their own equipment, but the facility does offer equipment rentals.

Through a partnership with the Roseville Area High School, the winter course sees 30 to 50 kids on the Nordic ski team for practice a few times each week. Scott Breuer, the recreation program and facility supervisor at Cedarholm, said that he would love to see more of the community take advantage of the course trails.

“It’s a great scenic venue here,” Breuer said. “Kind of promoting the golf course as not just a place to go golfing in the summer.”