The sun shone on the 5th Çalış Christmas Fair that took place on Sunday 4th December 2011 and that brought record crowds and raised record funds.

The popular festive fair, organized by Çalış Children’s Charity, was the biggest ever with well over 170 stalls and it attracted thousands of visitors from as far afield as Mugla, Marmaris and Kas.

Crowds thronged the promenade snapping up bargains from the abundance of stalls selling traditional Christmas decorations, gifts and presents as well as beautiful craft items, whilst at the same time soaking up the festive atmosphere and sampling various Christmas fare.

The seafront bars and restaurants were heaving with customers all day.

One lady commented: “One lady commented “I have never seen Çalış seafront so full in 13 years. It was a great day.”

As one pm approached the crowds came to as standstill as they awaited for the arrival of Father Christmas in his decorated “sleigh”.

He arrived to a huge cheer at his magnificent balloon house in his winter wonderland grotto accompanied by fairy helper Tinkerbell, Frosty the Snowman, Tommy Turtle and his two naughty elves.

Over 130, mainly Turkish, children queued up to see him and receive presents and at one point members of the 3C’s were rushing around buying up toys from nearby stalls as they were running out!

“It was an amazing turnout” said 3C’s chairman Peter Clark. Thankfully the weather was kind to us this year which made all the difference. The stalls all appeared to be doing great trade and the atmosphere was brilliant

It was really good to see the integration between the Turkish nationals and the foreigners living here and to see how the Turkish families embraced the day and joined in the festivities. Everyone appeared really happy and having a great time.”

Once the costs of putting on the event are finalized, the 3C’s expect to have netted a record 4,000 TL from the fair which will all go towards funding projects for children in the local Calis/Fethiye area.

It is believed that all of the other charity stalls also did well.

Peter continued:

“The 3C's would like to thank everyone who took part, supported or attended the fair. We would particularly like to thank Pera Organisation for building the fabulous balloon grotto and decorating the prom.

Also a huge thanks to Cem of Aydin Pide and Fethiye Belediye Zabita for providing us with vehicles for Santa and his helpers and also the owners of Eyna Restaurant and the Nil Bar for all their help and support. We at the 3C's all had a ball and we hope everyone else did too. It was hard work but it was well worth it”.