Children of all ages attended the MTSU Christmas Village featuring Santa, Mrs. Claus and the MTSU farm animals.

Presented by the MTSU Agritourism Club, Christmas Village was held Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Tennessee Livestock Center.

Along with her mother, a youngster collects some reindeer food at the Dec. 2 MTSU Christmas Village to help feed Santa’s animals on Christmas Eve. (Submitted photo)

For several years, School of Agribusiness and Agriscience faculty member Alanna Vaught’s agritourism class held a Breakfast With Santa event as a class project. Since there was no agritourism class this fall, the agritourism club took on the task with a slightly different format but just as much fun.

More than 300 people attended the two-hour event and brought food donations, which generated more than 15 boxes of nonperishable food items for the MTSU Student Food Pantry, said Kacey Roberts, a graduate teaching assistant who established the Breakfast with Santa event with Vaught in 2014.

“This year’s Christmas Village turned out great,” Roberts said. “We are very thankful to all of our supporters and student volunteers who helped make this event a success. We are excited to begin the planning for next year’s event with hopes of expanding to accommodate a larger crowd.”

A mother helps her daughter add color to a craft for children who attended the MTSU School of Agribusiness and Agriscience Agritourism Club’s Christmas Village Dec. 2 in the Tennessee Livestock Center. (Submitted photo)

Along with a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus, Roberts said this year’s event included visits with a variety of farm animals — a cow, a donkey, chickens, pigs, goats and rabbits — as well as making crafts and “reindeer food,” snacks of cookies and MTSU chocolate milk, walking a straw maze and participating i “Little Acres,” an interactive exhibit that allowed children to be a farmer for a day.

The School of Agribusines and Agriscience is one of 11 departments in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences. For more information, call the School of Agribusiness and Agriscience office at 615-898-2523 or the college at 615-898-2613.

MTSU has more than 240 combined undergraduate and graduate programs.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

MTSU Agritourism Club members helped plan and execute the Christmas Village, held Dec. 2 in the Tennessee Livestock Center. (Submitted photo)

Assisted by elves, Santa and Mrs. Claus were quite popular Dec. 2 during the MTSU School of Agribusiness and Agriscience Agritourism Club’s Christmas Village in the Tennessee Livestock Center. (Submitted photo)