Calgary’s Santa School has taken its show on the road

Delivery truck bringing the bearded one to locked-down residents

CALGARY — With the pandemic clipping Santa’s wings, a major purveyor of Kris Kringle culture has turned the jolly old elf’s journeys into a ground game.

Like a massive dump of coal, COVID-19 has smothered Christmas parties and in-person wish sessions this holiday season.

But with elfin pluck, Calgary’s Santa School has literally taken its show on the road with a delivery truck bringing the bearded one to lockeddown residents yearning for a dose of yuletide joy.

“Santa’s the ultimate delivery guy, after all,” said Santa School owner Jennifer Andrews.

The white truck’s back opens up to reveal a cosy living space for Santa to hold court at a safe COVID-19 distance from his admirers, who can perch on its rear bumper.

“It’s like a living room on wheels and it allows people to have an open-air visit,” said Andrews. “We’re doing some drive-thrus so it enables people to get a face-to-face interaction ... it’s a big hit.”

The pivot to Santa’s Sleigh on wheels is the direct result of the local Kris Kringle industry being clobbered by a bio-toxic grinch that’s sidelined many, said Andrews.

“It’s impacted us, that’s for sure, and with a lot of the Santas being typically 60-plus years old, it’s a perfect storm,” she said. “Santas don’t feel comfortable being Santa this year.”

Plenty of mall gigs have been cancelled, said Andrews, and the school’s training has gone online to deliver an activity that’s mentored up-and-coming Santas across the globe.

“Santa school exists because he can’t be everywhere,” said Andrews.

While his craft’s in-person tradition has collapsed, veteran Calgary Santa Michael Shepherd said he’s managed to hold his own.

“It’s transformed my whole living room into Santa’s office ... I’ve worked hard on this since August,” he said.

Shepherd conducts Zoom visits for clients intent on a holiday season encounter, with individual audiences typically lasting 10 minutes.

Letters he receives from children are read over the internet link-up, “which blows their little minds,” he said.

A silver lining of the Covidchristmas is that Shepherd has extended his reach through word of mouth and technology, which has allowed him to drum up business as far afield as Central America, he said.

And though it may not have the personal touch, he and other red-garbed elves can reach many admirers at a time.

“I know a guy who’s doing this eight hours a day. It’s going viral,” he said.

“I got a call for doing one fromcosta Rica ... I can do 70 people at a time on Zoom.”

While the pandemic cost him a lucrative job from one large energy firm, another has booked him to do a mass Zoom appearance.

Before the latest, stricter COVID-19 restrictions, he’d also done socially distanced daycare, home and drive-by visits, “but you really have to figure out ways to do it,” adds Shepherd.

The pandemic has even coloured what kids whisper from a safe distance in Santa’s ear, he said.

“I’ve been asked for vaccines, and I tell the kids I make toys and that some kids got a microscope, maybe they can come up with a vaccine,” said Shepherd.

He also explains to little ones curious about how he’ll avoid infection during his globe-trotting delivery mission.

“I’m in and out of your house so quick, there’s no way the virus can take hold,” he said.

AZIN GHAFFARI • POSTMEDIA NEWS Seven-year-old James and his brother Benjamin, 4, visit Santa at his Santa Truck in the drivethru at Crowfoot YMCA parking lot on Monday.