History

History

In 1953, Réal Rousseau and Jacques T. Melchers had a vision: to give Montreal families the opportunity to leave the city and find a quiet, safe and pleasant site close-by where reality and fiction would come to life. They chose Val-David in the beautiful Laurentians.

Santa arrived at his "Summer Residence" that year by helicopter! He has not missed a summer since that date and has welcomed over 3 millions visitors. Our visitors have noticed improvements over the years especially since 1988, when thousands of dollars were invested in the Village to enhance the enjoyment of everyone.

Philosophy

Objectives:

• To give small children during the summer the chance to experience the magic of meeting with Santa while parents look on.
• To offer parents and children the opportunity to come close to, identify and become friendly with animals by petting and feeding them.
• To provide an opportunity for parents and children to participate in action-oriented activities and to live in a fantasy world for a while. To discover new sensations: new discoveries will give children a chance to go beyond their capacities, to master their little fears and to have fun. Admit it, isn't this really more fun than watching TV?
• To provide a secure wooded area and open spaces where the only sounds are: Christmas music, parent's and children's laughter and animal calls...loud city noises are more than 100 km away !
• In shaded areas enjoy a home-made lunch or you can buy healthy food from our newly renovated Snack-Bar".
• At the end of a pleasant day, the children will be "played-out". Driving back to town will be a lot easier ! And all of this at a very reasonable cost !