The spirit of Christmas is alive at Augusta Regional Airport, complete with a special visitor greeting passengers and a gift for one person.
Santa Claus spent a few days in the main terminal building to greet travelers and take special requests from children.
Airport officials took advantage of Santa’s presence to choose the winner of a pair of round-trip tickets to Washington, D.C. to promote the American Airlines daily service to the nation’s capital.
“We started this contest on December 1 and it ran through the 21st. We had a little over 3400 entries,” said airport Public Relations Manager Lauren Smith.
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During a Facebook Live event, Santa reached into the jar and pulled out the name of the winner. It is LaTrella Ardis and she will be notified by email.
Airport Executive Director Herbert Judon, Jr. said, “We’ve grown quite a bit the last couple of years and we’ve been able to secure flights to places such as Dallas-Fort Worth and also to Washington D.C. We also hope that this contest continues to just heighten the awareness of the Augusta Regional Airport and all that we offer.”
Augusta’s airport therapy dog, Wanda, is also dressed up for the season and is greeting travelers and visitors as they come and go.
Additionally, the airport is hosting a performance by local musicians each day in the main terminal building. This year’s performers will be JaVonne Jones, John Hobbs, Fred Williams, Adam Thompson Harris, Matthew Dahlheimer, Bill Karp and Roger & Berita.
The musicians will be set up in the gate area through Christmas Eve.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at [email protected]
I call “FIXED” there are not anywhere near 3400 entries in that glass Canta is picking the winner from! They must have gone through, selected a small group of their favs, put them in to select from and pow. Run just like the rest of Augusta.
Early in the morning of 22 December, I visited the office of Herbert Judon, the executive director of the Augusta Regional Airport. My task was the pick the winner. About 3400 were in the mix. The name that Santa read was the one that I picked. It was a perfectly legitimate selection. My pleasure. Major General Perry M Smith USAF (ret.).