A sense of community alive and well at Greenfield's annual Breakfast with Santa event

My how things have grown in the 15 years that the Greenfield Recreation Department has hosted the community to an event it calls "Breakfast With Santa."

Some 200 people gathered this past weekend for a home cooked breakfast and the chance to chat and take photographs with Santa and Mrs. Clause.

"It started out as 50 people in the basement of City Hall," recalls Nick Buerger who organized the event and works for the Greenfield Rec Department. "Now we're maxed out at 200."

The event is so big it has to be held at the Greenfield Community Center.

So nobody is disappointed, they pre-sold tickets. The price included the meal, photo and gift bag for children.

The event was sold out days in advance.

"I think everybody loves the holiday season," Buerger said. "We run a good event here. Everybody loves the ambiance here."

It is a well organized machine.

Folks were assigned a table with the name of a reindeer.

When their name was called, they went up to fill up on pancakes, sausage and treats which were prepared by a team of volunteers, including senior citizens in the community.

This year there was a special treat in that organizers booked their first ever live, musical guest.

It turned out to be longtime CBS 58 friend Eric Look.

He's an autistic artist and song writer whose original Christmas songs had the kids jumping.

CBS 58's Michele McCormack joined in to serenade the arrival with Santa and the kids didn't disappoint, joining in to sing really loud so Santa knows that in Greenfield, "we still believe."

Web Extra: Breakfast with Santa from CBS 58 News on Vimeo.