The annual event has taken place in Plant City for over thirty years, serving hundreds of families within the community.
For over 30 years the Plant City Black Heritage and Des’Aimes Social Club have partnered with their local community to present the annual Santa Sled Festival, with the event returning this year on Dec. 17 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Sadye Gibbs Martin Community Center, 1601 E. Dr. Martin Luther Kind Jr. Blvd.
This year’s event will provide toys, groceries, turkeys and clothes to over 200 Plant City families, impacting the holiday season for over 500 kids from age five to 12, while also holding a raffle where winners will receive one of the over 50 bicycles that have been donated from local sponsors. Additionally, food will be provided by Feeding Tampa Bay while kids in attendance will have the opportunity to play on bounce jumpers and have their pictures taken with Santa!
“The event has grown tremendously,” Sharon Moody said. “We started out with very few, building it each year and each year it gets bigger and better. We have a lot of support from the community.”
Sponsors of the event include C&S Wholesaler Grocers, Kiwanis Club of Plant City, Feeding Tampa Bay, the Plant City Housing Authority, Southern Hospitality and Winn-Dixie. And along with their corporate sponsors, the event gets help each year from local churches and individual members within the Plant City community.
To register for the event, families can obtain an application at the Plant City Chamber, 118 W. Reynolds St., or from the Sadye Gibbs Martin Community Center. For more information, or to register, contact Moody at 813-453-7134 or Plant City Black Heritage president Dorothy Smith at 813-255-2694. The deadline for registration is Nov. 30, 2022 and all parents must also pre-register with their ID and kid(s) present between 8:30 and 9 a.m. on the day of the event.
“I think it’s a very important gesture that we do for the community because a lot of people are hurting right now,” Moody said. “Things have come up in a lot of their lives where they can’t always do the things for the children that they want to. That’s where we step in to give them a relief and let them know that things will be taken care of as normal.”
