WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — Families throughout the Midlands are making their way to Carraway Park in West Columbia for one special reason and one reason only - to write letters to Santa.
That's because Santa's letter writing shop is in West Columbia.
It's a spot where every boy and girl can come to write their Christmas wishes to Kris Kringle himself.
"It brings the Christmas spirit more to life with being able to write to Santa and also getting a response back," said Catherine Gross a West Columbia resident.
So far, the city says Santa has received over 1,000 letters from the West Columbia mailbox. He's written back to 450 of them. To make sure you get a letter back from the big guy you need to make sure to include your address.
The Gates family is just one of many who stopped by to join in on the fun.
"We stopped by the park just to get a little bit of outside activity in and we saw this cool little write a letter to Santa, so we decided to put our list in the mailbox," Heather Gates an Irmo resident said.
Beyond the letters, Heather's daughter Hillary and son Noah will be taking up other Christmas activities too. That includes making Christmas crafts and decorating Christmas cookies.
Santa's mailbox has been here two years and the city plans to continue the tradition at Carraway Park for future holiday seasons.
If you dropped off your letter before the 15th, Santa will respond by Christmas, but if it's after that date, it might be after Christmas that you get a response from Santa.