The Town of Santa Claus

Yes, there is a Santa Claus. And the small southern Indiana town that boasts that famous name celebrates Christmas all year long.

"Sometimes people think I’m kidding when I say I live in Santa Claus," says Michael Johannes, who resides at Christmas Lake Village, a residential community in the town. "It has a Norman Rockwell, 1950s-type of atmosphere ... my kids love it here."

In fact, the spirit of Christmas is all around Santa Claus (pop. 2,164), from street signs with names like Silver Bell Terrace, Kringle Plaza and Prancer Drive, to the town’s fire trucks that have been dubbed Rudolph, Dasher and Blitzen.

Local businesses also embrace the Yuletide cheer with signs that read St. Nick’s Restaurant, Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort, Frosty’s Pizza, Holiday Foods and Ho Ho Ho Holdings. Even the local hotel, Santa’s Lodge, displays year-round lighted Christmas trees in its lobby and a huge snowman on the front lawn.

Then there’s Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari, formerly Santa Claus Land, which opened in 1946 as the world’s first themed amusement park, where Santa is a major attraction even on hot summer days.

"I think someone who doesn’t like Christmas would go live in another town," jokes Paula Werne, spokeswoman for Holiday World.

However, having such a famous town name comes with its share of responsibilities. At the Santa Claus Post Office, more than 500,000 pieces of mail arrive annually to receive a special Santa Claus holiday postmark, which is designed each year by a local student.

"We get letters from as far away as Germany and Italy for the picture postmark," says Postmaster Marian Balbach. "People will drive hundreds of miles just to get the famous cancellation on their holiday mail."

For more than a century, letters from children addressed to the town’s namesake also have found their way to the post office. "Some of them are just addressed to Santa Claus at the North Pole," Balbach says. "But they make it here."

The special letters—about 10,000 each year—from children are answered by a group of volunteers known as Santa’s Elves. "Children have taken the time to write, and we don’t want them to be disappointed," says Patricia Koch, whose father, Jim Yellig, helped organize Santa’s Elves and even worked as Santa Claus at Holiday World.

"My father didn’t ‘play’ Santa Claus," she says. "When he put on that red suit, he was Santa Claus. As a girl, I remember him always carrying a box of letters in his car—and now I’m doing the same thing."

Records show that the first person to answer the children’s letters in the town was Santa Claus Postmaster James Martin in 1914. "We’ve not missed a year since," Koch says.

Founded in 1850 by German settlers, the town originally was named Santa Fe. Because the state already had a Santa Fe, government officials told residents that a new name was necessary. Legend has it that townspeople gathered at a church on Christmas Eve 1852 to discuss a new name.

"Suddenly the wind blew the church doors open," says Vevah Harris, executive director of the Spencer County Visitors Bureau. "They could hear sleigh bells in the distance, and snow was falling. The children started chanting, ‘Santa Claus, Santa Claus.’ And the townspeople decided that would be a good name for their town."

Since 1935, a gigantic Santa Claus statue has welcomed visitors to town. Twenty-two feet high and weighing more than 40 tons, the granite Santa Claus statue has a special base in the shape of the Star of Bethlehem. During the height of the Depression, town resident Carl Barrett set a goal of raising enough pennies from children to build the statue. Ripley’s Believe It or Not featured Barrett’s dream, and the donations turned into a blizzard. Sending in pennies and deutsche marks, children from all over the world paid for the statue.

"I marvel that children still believe in Santa Claus," Koch says. "He is a symbol of love and giving and sharing. That’s what Christmas is all about."

Santa Claus’ Christmas Festival and Festival of Lights is scheduled Dec. 10 and 11. Visit www.legendaryplaces.org or call (888) 444-9252 for more information.

Jackie Sheckler Finch is a freelance writer in Bloomington, Ind.

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