City Santa assures us future is bright for jolly old elves
Veteran Calgary Santa Michael Shepherd has done it all in the big red suit, from mall duty, to parties, to promoting the role of the globetrotting purveyor of joy online, on social media, in newspapers and on radio and TV. He sat down with Postmedia to discuss the modern realities confronting Santa. Q: Is the future of Santa a bright one, or are parents increasingly reluctant to fortify a belief in Santa? A: The future of Santa is bright. You’ve got naysayers out there, but Santa’s been around for hundreds of years. Christmas was actually banned in the U.S. for two or three hundred years at one point, until some immigrants were spreading it around — that was the pilgrims. As for parents, there are some who just won’t go through with it, but there are many more who enjoy it. It can also be used as a disciplinary tool as in ‘you either do this or you’ll be on Santa’s naughty list.’ Q: Do you foresee a need for a Santa labour union? A: No, not really. We all kind of have each other’s backs. We’re more of a brotherhood than anything else. We have many different forms we use in the elf book for different things, where we talk about better ideas, like the best way to cool off in fat suits. We actually work together really well.
Q: Do political winds affect Santa?
A: No, it is now too important for too many people and there’s too much money involved. And there’s only one party Santa believes in — it’s the Christmas party, not the Liberals or Conservatives. The only problem I get is people asking for live pets and the SPCA asks us not to deliver real pets, so we do gift certificates. The dogs and cats, they’d fight on the sleigh sometimes and we don’t want anyone to get hurt. We lost a hamster once — we hit a bump, but we caught it, so it was all good.
Q: Is there room for both a secular and religious Christmas?
A: It is perfectly fine to tie it in with the birth of Jesus, with that Christian thing. And there are some different paganistic backgrounds that are not so much a religious celebration, but a cultural one. With all the immigrants coming to Canada, they really enjoy finding out how Christmas is celebrated, so they can better integrate into our society. They enjoy it and why wouldn’t they? Q: Would you, as Santa, go overseas to conflict zones to bring Christmas joy to Canada’s troops? A: Yes, of course, I would. I do go over there, but it’s harder to go over there on a sleigh with all the bombs and different missiles and they’re trying to track things. Sometimes, we have to smuggle things as opposed to flying over, and getting caught on their radar. It’s something that’s been done in the past and will always be done in the future. Q: How financially important is this time of year for Santas and is there a rivalry between them? A: It’s very important for the different Santas who are older gentlemen — this is what they use to top up their pensions. A lot of my fellow brethren are in their 60s or 70s and they’re pretty much retired. This is another nice way of doing things. It can be quite profitable for them. But there’s a lot of work out there for everybody. Everyone wants to see Santa, so nobody really fights up against each other. If someone’s sick, we put it up on a page somewhere on the elf book and someone will figure out how to cover for them. We’re all there for exactly the same reason — that’s to put a smile on a child’s face.