Carol crowds

By Emma Sun
THE Cranbourne Rotary Club’s Christmas Carols event was deemed a huge success.
Between 4000 and 5000 people attended the event at Cranbourne Racecourse, but organiser Lance Beckwith said they could have had an even bigger turnout.
“It was a miserable looking day, which probably deterred some people from going,” Mr Beckwith said.
The day started with a sausage sizzle and free soft drinks for children.
Santa made an appearance, and was mobbed by everyone.
“The kids just want to touch him,” Mr Beckwith said.
“They’d jump all over him if they could.”
Elvis impersonator paid everyone a visit, and sang some of his songs in Christmas spirit, such as “Santa Bring My Baby Back”.
The carols featured a bunch of young talent, including Allira Fairlan who sang ‘Jingle Bell Rock, Britney Blackmore who sang ‘I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus’, Taylor Piggot who sang ‘White Christmas’ and Ryan Griffiths who sang ‘So this is Christmas’.
Country Western Hall of Famer Ian Castles performed ‘It’s Beginning To Look Like Christmas’ and ‘When A Child Is Born’.
The night finished with a fireworks display, which the crowd went wild for.
“[The fireworks] went off with Jackie Laing singing ‘Absolutely Everybody’ and the crowd loved it,” Mr Beckwith said.
“They never moved, they stayed right until it finished.”
Three huge baskets worth over $300 were also raffled off to people in the crowd.
Mr Beckwith said that in the end, the event was all about the kids.
“A lot of work goes into it, but to see the smiles on the kids’ faces just makes it all worthwhile,” he said.