{"id":78527,"date":"2023-11-14T19:07:07","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T19:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=78527"},"modified":"2023-11-16T15:19:04","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T15:19:04","slug":"christmas-coming-to-canton-could-be-in-jeopardy-without-santa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2023\/11\/14\/christmas-coming-to-canton-could-be-in-jeopardy-without-santa\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Coming to Canton could be in jeopardy without Santa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The popular annual event \u2018can\u2019t go ahead without a Father Christmas<\/strong>\u2019, <strong>says organiser<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>THE ANNUAL \u2018Christmas Coming to Canton\u2019 event along Cowbridge Road East is hugely popular in the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, as funds dry up there is no guarantee that it will go ahead this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cowbridge Road East traders band together every year to bring the event to Canton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Organisers rely on donations from local traders to put on the event. Money raised funds Christmas lights, which cost \u00a31,000 each, and buys gifts for the children of the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A key problem faced by organisers is their lack of Father Christmas. Due to limited funds, they need an unpaid volunteer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, the event was dependant on Tesco, which donated 250 selection boxes. However, the supermarket giant says it will only donate this year \u2018\u201cif we get a Father Christmas,\u201d said Julia Richards, organiser of the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Richards, who launched the event five years ago, said: \u201cA lot of things were happening on Cowbridge Road East \u2013 Tesco were making redundancies, shops were going empty, and we thought we would try and lift Cowbridge Road East.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since it began, the event has been a great success and is valued by the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Richards explained: \u201cThe whole idea is to provide for local kids. So many parents came up to us last year and thanked us for doing it because they couldn\u2019t afford to take their children to go and see Father Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was very concerned that there would be kids who didn\u2019t have a present and that would\u2019ve been terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year organisers have run into extra difficulty. Problems arising from Covid and the ongoing cost of living crisis have meant funding is limited. Roberts said: \u201cWe are scraping around, asking individual shops to come up with money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Richard Swambo, owner of Laura\u2019s Fruiteries on Cowbridge Road East, said: \u201cChristmas Coming to Canton is one of the best events for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"625\" height=\"319\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/11\/image-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-78544\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/11\/image-4.png 625w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/11\/image-4-300x153.png 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/11\/image-4-293x150.png 293w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"625\" height=\"319\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/11\/image-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-78544\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/11\/image-4.png 625w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/11\/image-4-300x153.png 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/11\/image-4-293x150.png 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Richard, owner of Laura\u2019s Fruiteries, described the event as \u201cgreat for the community.\u201d (Credit: Billy Stewart)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Richard was Father Christmas last year, the first time Father Christmas was introduced to the event, which actually cost him \u00a380 as he bought his own Santa suit but he \u201cdidn\u2019t mind because it was a good event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The event is of additional importance this year, as many of the 250 traders along Cowbridge Road East continue to struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTrade is rubbish at the moment,\u201d said Richard, who believes the Christmas Coming to Canton event could help support local business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Richard\u2019s fruit shop is among many independent shops on Cowbridge Road East that are dependent on the local community, and get a boost from &#8216;Christmas Coming to Canton.&#8217; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Canton Cobbler and Calabrissella, both on Cowbridge Road East, are other donors to the event. Like Richard, they help because they recognise its importance to the community and local trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Event organisers, local traders, and members of the Canton community are all hopeful that a Father Christmas will be found soon, so plans can go ahead and \u2018Christmas Coming to Canton\u2019 starts as planned on December 9<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The annual \u2018Christmas coming to Canton\u2019 event along Cowbridge Road East is hugely popular amongst the Canton community. However, as funds dry up and with no Father Christmas, there is no guarantee that it will go ahead this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1047,"featured_media":78538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2246,3,1],"tags":[69,1291,1516,227,1518,4034],"coauthors":[8531],"class_list":["post-78527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canton-where-you-live","category-news","category-outabout","tag-canton","tag-cardiff-2","tag-christmas","tag-community","tag-lights","tag-santa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Christmas Coming to Canton could be in jeopardy without Santa - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2023\/11\/14\/christmas-coming-to-canton-could-be-in-jeopardy-without-santa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas Coming to Canton could be in jeopardy without Santa - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The annual \u2018Christmas coming to Canton\u2019 event along Cowbridge Road East is hugely popular amongst the Canton community. However, as funds dry up and with no Father Christmas, there is no guarantee that it will go ahead this year.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2023\/11\/14\/christmas-coming-to-canton-could-be-in-jeopardy-without-santa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-14T19:07:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-16T15:19:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/11\/image-3.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"721\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"406\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Billy Stewart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Billy_journo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Billy Stewart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2023\/11\/14\/christmas-coming-to-canton-could-be-in-jeopardy-without-santa\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2023\/11\/14\/christmas-coming-to-canton-could-be-in-jeopardy-without-santa\/\",\"name\":\"Christmas Coming to Canton could be in jeopardy without Santa - 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