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Yes, Atlanta, There Is a Santa Claus Meet the Real Men Who Put the Ho-Ho-Ho in the Holidays
The Three Stages of Man Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Saint Nicholas (St. Nick, for short), Pére or Papa Noel. Around the world there is a name for the man bearing gifts on Christmas Day. Here, we simply refer to him as Santa Claus. The legend of St. Nick as we know it today actually began during the 4th century in Asia Minor when a bishop named Saint Nicholas was renowned for donating much to charity. Nine centuries later, Italians built a church to honor him and soon Christian pilgrims took the charitable message back home. In 12th-century Europe, St. Nicholas Day became a religious holiday where giving gifts to the poor was celebrated, especially in Germany, France and Holland. It was the Dutch colonists who brought Sinterklass to America. Their legendary figure wore a red bishop’s costume and rode a white horse. By the 1800s, Saint Nicholas had morphed into the plump elf we know today, and eventually made his way back around the world. It is this Santa Claus that brings joy to children, and in their eyes, no one is more magical. Atlanta is home to more Santa Clauses than anywhere in the country. Gone are the days of men in padded suits and fake beards that come and go year to year. Our Santas have become mainstays; Santas our children come to recognize and love year after year. These white-bearded men with twinkles in their eyes may be considered men in costumes, but when asked why they play Santa, they always reply, “Who says I’m playing?” For four consecutive years, my young children have sat on the lap of the same jolly old soul. I love that my infant daughter gazed up at his white beard her first year, joined by her newborn brother the second year, looking like a deer caught in the headlights (just before screaming) the third year and this year gave him her first hug, finally able to comprehend that Santa was the man to spill her wishes to. Having pictures with Santa is a growth chart in a way, but having the same man hold my children year after year is a more accurate measurement. Who are these men who return every year to hundreds of kids clamoring onto their laps, tugging at their beards, screaming in fear? Here’s a look behind the real Santa Clauses at some of our favorite Winter Wonderlands around Atlanta. The Real Thing: Santa Ed Ed Butchart is the “Real Thing,” according to former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw. Discovered in a Chinese Restaurant by a national Santa Claus recruiter – yes, Virginia, there is such a thing! – Butchart’s snow-white beard allows him to look more like St. Nick, but it is his foundation that makes him truly like the patron saint that provided for those in need. As founder of Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC) in Stone Mountain, Butchart, 72, provides wheelchairs and hospital beds to those without insurance or who cannot afford expensive medical equipment. What began 20 years ago doing handyman work for a disabled neighbor grew and grew into the foundation that has since given away $60 million worth of equipment to about 50,000 people. FODAC caught the eye of Brokaw, who became just as enamored as a child upon meeting Butchart. “It kind of goes together with my playing Santa because what the organization does is take donations of medical equipment like wheelchairs and hospital beds and we refurbish them and give them away to people who need them. I get to be Santa Claus. You give a family a wheelchair for a child that would cost them $20,000, they think you’re Santa Claus for sure,” Butchart said. Butchart has been Stone Mountain Park’s resident Santa Claus for 18 years and is one of the longest consecutive running Santas in town. He even penned a book titled “The Red Suit Diaries” that detailed his rich experiences over the years that turned this hardened former marine into a big-hearted softie. Said Gerald Rakestraw, vice president and general manager of Stone Mountain Park, “We feel fortunate to have such a wonderful Santa who gives to children and the community year-round. Guests have been visiting our Santa for more than a decade and continue to bring their families year after year.” Butchart recently “retired” to Greenville, S.C., but wouldn’t dream of playing Santa anywhere but Stone Mountain Park. “My home is Stone Mountain, there is no place else I want to be Santa,” he said. Butchart doesn’t find being Santa a difficult role. “There are a lot of screamers,” he said, “but I enjoy them, too. Everybody wants to be adored, even if it’s by kids that are knee-high.” Still, he faced the most difficult of years as Santa in 2004 when his wife grew ill over the holiday season and passed away on Christmas Day. “There are times when it’s difficult to be Santa during the holidays, but you just have to go on. The week before she died she went into a coma at the hospital and that was difficult to play Santa. But one of my things is that every child deserves a jolly, old St. Nick from the first kid of the day to the last kid of the day. It’s not always easy, but I do try hard to make that happen.” Last year, Butchart was surprised by a woman who said she had been bringing her daughter to see him since she was 4 years old. “She said she had a surprise for me and I said, ‘Oh goody.’ And I was standing up and her daughter walked off the set and came back carrying a baby. She said, ‘I wanted my baby’s first visit to Santa to be with my Santa.’ I couldn’t believe it, a second-generation kid. It was a sweet moment. She had gotten married and moved out of state and came back a long way to see me. That got to me and I cried like a baby.” Ghost of Christmas Past and Santa Johnny Atlanta’s longest-running Santa Claus was a legend around town. Newcomers were told there was no better place to take their children than to Phipps Plaza, where Santa Ray Bryan ruled the North Pole for 22 consecutive years. His passing in April 2006 was quite a blow to the children, both young and old, that had grown to know and love him. “I think for everybody he was the real deal,” said Steve Lane, owner of Big Shot, the Santa agency for Phipps Plaza. “He was at Perimeter Mall for four years prior to working with us, so he had been doing Santa in Atlanta for 26 years. He was seeing second-generation kids who saw him when they were kids and were bringing him their kids.” Last season was Phipps first year without Santa Ray. “It was a tough year but people weren’t disappointed,” Lane said. “They received Santa Johnny with open arms but it was mentally heartfelt without Ray being there because he had been such a staple for so long.” This year, Lane hopes the memory of Bryan will have faded enough that Santa Johnny Hammond, 65, who took the reindeer reins, can continue Bryan’s legacy as Atlanta’s premier Santa. “I’d like to do it as long as I can. I don’t know if I’ll last 22 years like Ray did though!” Hammond laughed. For Hammond, playing Santa came naturally. With his Southern drawl and full beard, he was often mistaken for Kenny Rogers in his younger days. As the beard went gray and then white started to appear, he noticed more and more people thought he resembled Santa Claus and he decided if he looked the part, he might as well play the part. Before Phipps Plaza, Hammond could be found at Southlake Mall; in all, he’s been playing Santa in the Atlanta area for nearly a decade. For Hammond, a knack for talking to children has made him a favorite to area parents, who have followed him from Southlake Mall to Phipps. “Screaming kids are part of the job as well and I just try to take some time and get them to talk to me. I always lead with the shoes. I’ll say, ‘My those are purty shoes,’ to a little girl or ‘Those sure are some handsome shoes you’ve got on there,’ to a boy. And they are always willing to talk and will tell me their mom bought their shoes. Then I say ‘You know, I’d sure love to take a picture with you, do you think we could take a picture?’ I put the ball in their court,” he said. Still, many moms who have seen Hammond tell him the images of their crying babies on his lap are those they will always treasure the most.
Around the World with Santa Rick Just like in many families’ holiday gatherings, there is one go-to man asked to don the red suit for the kiddies. Rick Hyman, 61, began playing Santa during family gatherings in North Carolina to entertain the children and found he enjoyed the ho-ho-ho-ing and adoration enough to continue playing Santa whenever he had the chance. As a member of the foreign service of the Federal Aviation Administration, Hyman took his Santa suit with him on his travels, playing Santa in Belgium and the Philippines and working with ambassadors with Toys for Tots and NATO. “In Brussels, although they have Father Christmas, they identified with the American Santa just as easily. I’d put on my suit and they knew I was coming around. I knew where the children were in the neighborhood and I’d go to everyone’s house and bring a small stuffed animal with candy canes — we Santas are big with candy canes. And I did the same thing when I lived in the Philippines. I worked with Project Smile and would go to the hospitals where doctors came from the United States to help children with cleft palates basically for free. And I worked with a retired Marine who throws an annual holiday party for all the street children. We’d have probably 200 children from 5 to 18,” Hyman recalled of his travels. Now retired, Hyman brings his nearly 40 years as Santa to Discover Mills, where he is playing Santa for his second year. Just returning from the Charles W. Howard Santa School in Midland, Mich., Hyman takes his job as Santa very seriously. Every day, before arriving on set, Hyman gets his real beard and hair styled in a hair salon at Discover Mills. For mall patrons, watching Santa getting gussied up in the salon is part of the fun. “They’ll see me sit there every morning and wave while I’m getting my hair done. My beard grows well enough that I shave mine off after the season but this year I’m trying to get a little more length to it so I can become a Coca-Cola Santa. I want to have about 12 inches because when they curl it up with the curling iron, it tends to get shorter,” he said. The size of Discover Mills and the number of patrons warrants Hyman visits from approximately 5,000 children each season, but he knows the kids are there to tell them what they want and gives them the time they need to do so. Said Yvonne Jacobs, director of mall marketing for Discover Mills, “Our customers consistently tell us what a special experience they’ve had with him and request him back each year. He takes a lot of time with the children and really listens intently to their wishes. He also looks exactly the way children have imagined him — with a real beard, snow white hair and always a warm smile on his face!” Added Hyman, “The one thing I always try to tell them is ‘Santa loves you,’ so the last thing they hear before they walk away is that someone loves them. I never know what the situation is at home with these children, so if the one thing I can give them is 5 minutes of pure love, then I am happy to give it to them.” Letterman’s Top 10 Santa Joe Like Hammond, Joe Lane, 67, decided it was time to don the red suit when people began mistaking him for Santa. “When I was younger, people would say I looked like so and so. Then I grew a mustache and they would say I looked like so and so. Then I grew a beard to go along with that mustache and since then they said I looked like Santa. A friend of mine played Santa so when I retired from BellSouth, I asked him about getting me started,” he said. His first year as Santa found Lane in New York City, where David Letterman’s scouts discovered him and asked him to play Santa and read the renowned “Top 10.” Although Christmas in Manhattan was beautiful, it was just too far from home so Lane joined the Simon Malls and found his long-time gig at Northlake Mall, just 3 miles from his home. “He’s got years of experience under his belt and his spirit is contagious. You can tell that Santa Joe loves what he does and really takes pride in creating holiday memories for the kids,” said Northlake Mall Manager John Baker. Now in his eighth year, Lane has no plans to play Santa anywhere but here. With years under his belt, he finds he doesn’t have too many moments with screaming children or wet diapers; instead he finds more parents getting angry during what should be a festive time. “I just recommend parents come early so that if a child isn’t ready the first time, there is room to come back a second time. I start the Friday before Thanksgiving and there is a lot of slow time in there,” he said. Although it’s sometimes difficult to remember the hundreds of kids he sees annually, Santa Joe is keen on recognizing the parents – “they don’t change as much as the kids do” – as well as the many adults who still want to sit on Santa’s lap and have their portrait taken. “I’ve had people as old as 96 and babies as young as 4 days old,” Lane said. “Last year, I even had a set of 91-year-old identical twins who had gone back to dressing alike. Adults especially relate to Santa, and not just at Christmas. Today I was at Kroger and there were five or six people saying, ‘Hey, Santa’ and coming over to talk to me. But that’s one of my favorite parts about being Santa, getting to meet a lot of people.” Smoky Mountain Santa Tim Relocating from Tennessee each holiday season means nothing to Tim Pruitt, 65, who plays Santa Claus at Lake Lanier Islands. It’s his favorite place to be for Christmas because it truly makes him feel like he is in the North Pole. “Coming to Lake Lanier Islands, it is a festival atmosphere for the families and rarely do you see anyone in a bad mood like you do in the mall. People come here for the fun. There are the lights to drive through, then the holiday village with ice skating and hot chocolate and Christmas trees and it’s the perfect environment,” Pruitt said. “We begin at 5 p.m. and the gates close at 10 p.m. If there is a line of cars, they will send one of their security vehicles to the end of the line, wherever it is, sometimes it’s all the way out on the interstate. If someone is in line, they get into Lake Lanier Islands if they are in front of that security car. If they want to see Santa in the Holiday Village, we’re there until all the cars are there. I was there until about 12:45 a.m. last year. We won’t turn a child away.” Last year was the first year Pruitt made an appearance at Lake Lanier Islands, and he hopes to continue the tradition long after this season comes to an end. After 22 years playing Santa, Pruitt has amassed a following from across the Southeast under the nickname Smoky Mountain Santa. “I have been doing a craft show in Birmingham, Ala., since 1991. It’s only a weeklong show but there are 15,000 people who go to this craft show every year and they line up from the time the doors open until it closes for Santa pictures. We have quite a number of repeat people. I have one young lady who has been coming to me since she was about 15 months old and now she is 17. Before Lake Lanier Islands, Pruitt had long been visiting Roswell to make his Santa appearance just perfect. Just like hundreds of Santas around the country, Pruitt has visited Hair Appeal salon in Roswell for 21 years. “A lot of Santas’ hair are dark when they go in, and they come out white. We call it conditioning. The salon is run by two sisters who really know what they are doing,” he said. And with his snow-white beard, Pruitt feels a bit like a celebrity when out and about. “Any time I am out, I get people who approach me as Santa. It happened just today while I was at Steak ‘n Shake here in Cumming. As I was getting out of the car in the parking lot there was a mom and her little boy and he was very intrigued meeting Santa Claus. Children of all ages approach me and I have as many adults as children who are intrigued. The waitress was even very much impressed with Santa today,” he said. “Definitely you get tired but it’s worth it overall because some of the kids can be so loving. It’s the enjoyment of seeing the joy in the children’s eyes. You talk about seeing the twinkle in Santa’s eyes, with these kids the sparkle in their eyes is just a blessing.” PN |
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