{"id":6529,"date":"2020-10-21T17:36:55","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T17:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aboriginalbusinessmagazine.com\/?p=6529"},"modified":"2020-10-21T17:36:55","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T17:36:55","slug":"for-working-santas-it-wont-be-a-green-christmas-as-parades-other-paid-gigs-dry-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aboriginalbusinessmagazine.com\/?p=6529","title":{"rendered":"For working Santas, it won’t be a green Christmas as parades, other paid gigs dry up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Will there be a Christmas without Santas?<\/em><\/p>\n

By Christopher Reynolds<\/p>\n

THE CANADIAN PRESS<\/p>\n

George McKay belts out a hearty “ho ho ho” as he makes the rounds at a weekend farmers market in Brampton, Ont.<\/p>\n

Wearing full Santa garb, from tasselled hat to silver bells and with an all-real white beard, the 68-year-old greets children who scamper up before shuffling back when his mask reminds them Kris Kringle has physical distancing protocols, too.<\/p>\n

“One little boy asked me last weekend, `Santa, are you OK? Are you going to be able to do the toys this year?’ I said, `Buddy, don’t be concerned. Santa will be there.”’<\/p>\n

But COVID-19 precautions mean opportunities to greet the big man in person are dwindling this year. Toronto cancelled its public Santa Claus parade for the first time in its more than 100-year history, and municipalities around the country have done the same.<\/p>\n

Retailers scrapped in-store visits, corporate parties are out of the question and hospitals are reconsidering who can safely walk their wards.<\/p>\n

That leaves Santas across the country in a state of limbo as organizations mull whether to adapt traditional greeting-and-photo sessions, go virtual or cut the kindly old elf from the advent calendar entirely.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been doing Santa for 45 years and I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” says McKay. “Parades are being cancelled everywhere.” In a typical year he books 100 or 120 events. This year, he’s got about 11.<\/p>\n

In the past he says he’s been contracted for events from companies like Coca-Cola and Canadian Tire as well as corporate parties for law firm McMillan, most of which are now off the table.<\/p>\n

Private house parties, where his rate runs up to $200 an hour, are also in short supply.<\/p>\n

“Normally in the season I’d make around 30 grand. And this year I’ll be lucky if I make five,” he says. “It’s a kick in the teeth.”<\/p>\n

The auto shop manager is weighing several mall offers, but says he also has to consider health precautions after a recent battle with cancer.<\/p>\n

Other working Santas agree.<\/p>\n

“We were all bummed out by the fact that we weren’t really even sure if Christmas as we know it was going to come this year,” says Stephen Arnold, a Memphis resident and head of the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas, a U.S.-based industry association that counts a handful of Canadians among its 2,200 members.<\/p>\n

“We’re older, most of us are immunocompromised in some fashion.<\/p>\n

We have heart conditions, diabetes, breathing problems,” says Arnold, 70. “So we all have to be pretty cautious.”<\/p>\n

But hope is on the horizon. Despite “foot-dragging” by malls and retailers, some groups have come forward with creative solutions, he says.<\/p>\n

He pointed to Memphis Botanic Garden, which hosts the city’s Christmas tree. It plans to have Arnold perched outdoors in a sled that seats him nearly three metres above the guests.<\/p>\n

An upcoming visit to the city’s St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital prompted him to buy a giant novelty snow globe.<\/p>\n

“I’ll have a headset and a speaker so I can hear them and they can hear me outside so we won’t have to be shouting through the plastic,” says Arnold, who works part-time as a private investigator.<\/p>\n

Toronto’s Eaton Centre will go ahead with its annual Santa meet-and-greet this year, but guests will pre-book and Kris Kringle will maintain a two-metre distance at all times.<\/p>\n

Pictures are still planned, but they will be “perspective photos” with Santa in the back and kids or families in front, says Craig Flannagan, vice-president of marketing at Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd., which owns the Eaton Centre and 18 other shopping malls across the country. All but two plan to host Santa.<\/p>\n

Rather than cancelling entirely, some cities are considering whether to convert their Santa Claus parades into a pandemic-proof alternative.<\/p>\n

“We have determined that a parade in the style of previous years is not possible,” says Vancouver parade producer Elyse Gawley. As to what will replace it, “we’re just not sure at the moment.”<\/p>\n

Winnipeg is equally uncertain. In Montreal, one option is to plant stationary floats that residents can enjoy throughout the season rather than crowding together on a single afternoon.<\/p>\n

“It’s really a difficult exercise, because we’re working with rules that are evolving every week and even every day,” says Emile Roux, who heads the Destination Centre-Ville merchants’ association.<\/p>\n

Starting next month, parents still wary of in-person meetings can use screen at home for livestreamed story times and Q&As with Santa as well as private chats, thanks to a major uptick in online options.<\/p>\n

“There’s a huge growth in the virtual business,” Arnold says.<\/p>\n

He receives US$75 per 15-minute call through the How to Save Christmas platform, though most virtual visits offer less than half that rate, he says.<\/p>\n

Video-chat companies such as Talk to Santa employ hundreds of actors who facilitate US$35 live chats, pre-recorded Santa messages and story times. The Welcome Santa site allows them to negotiate their own visits using software from the company, which takes a cut of the proceeds. And mobile apps like Video Call Santa let children liaise with the Arctic bigwig via the comfort of a smartphone.<\/p>\n

Talk to Santa, launched in 2014, is anticipating a year “like no other” with an expected increase in business of between 40 and 50 per cent, says CEO John LoPorto.<\/p>\n

“Virtual Santa visits had always been a relatively small niche of the annual holiday Santa experience,” he says. This winter, the company is partnering with numerous corporations, stores, apartment complex operators and schools.<\/p>\n

Still, all the cancellations and uncertainty are taking a toll on the men in red.<\/p>\n

“It’s a financial strain on Santas everywheres,” says McKay from his Brampton home. “A lot of guys are just bypassing the whole year and giving it up.”<\/p>\n

As an established Santa with community ties, he considers himself lucky, having garnered nearly 100 requests for FaceTime bookings so far.<\/p>\n

“To a lot of the kids out there, Santa’s very, very important,”\u00a0he says. “Bottom line is, you have to instill the trust and the joy of the season.”<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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