The spirit of the season is alive and well at North Folk Cafe & Gelato in Perth. This cafe is decked out for Christmas with festive decorations, a holiday drink menu, and an old-timey postbox for mailing letters to Santa.

Owner Dasha Smolentseva writes, “[I’ve] been dreaming of this since the inception of North Folk Cafe! I envisioned creating a North Pole post station at North Folk Cafe where kids could come in and drop off their Santa letters! Get a hot cup of cocoa and simply get immersed in the festive atmosphere of the holidays!”

Smolentseva, who also owns Artizen Kombucha with partner Sebastien Armand, remembers writing letters to Santa as a child.

“These are some of my favorite childhood memories that I wanted to recreate at North Folk.”

For those who wish to bring their children in to send letters to Santa, there is a beautiful red and white North Pole mailbox at the North Folk Cafe. Simply write your letters to Santa, pop all the letters from one family into one envelope (don’t forget your return address), and slip your envelope into the mailbox. If you send your letter by December 10, the elves will whisk it away to the North Pole and the Jolly Old Elf himself will mail back a reply before Christmas.

Smolentseva is thrilled to share a bit of Christmas magic from the cafe. “Nothing feels better than creating magic for our visitors!”

There is also a gorgeous gingerbread barn on display at North Folk, equipped with real lights, sugar Christmas trees and a roof made out of shreddies.

“Countless hours and a whole lot of patience went into building this edible work of art by Perth resident Faith Hutton.”

It’s on display now at North Folk Cafe until December 5th.

If you want to take this home with you, you can bid on the Gingerbread Barn as part of an auction, with part of the profits going towards Stewart Park Festival. Starting bid is $80.

Article by Janelle Labelle