Santa’s Cave has given city 99 years of Christmas magic
Christmas comes but once a year and so does Palmerston North’s Santa’s Cave. For 100 years, the cave has existed, and 99 of those have seen it switch on its lights and dial up the magic of Christmas.
The one year it didn’t was because of a polio epidemic during World War II, when many things came to a standstill.
The cave began its life at Collinson and Cunninghame, a department store started by two very industrious and progressive men.
Leopold Collinson and John Cunninghame wanted to make their store the best in town.
1918 was a time of great struggle.Soldiers were returning from the tail end of World War I and a flu epidemic struck hard and fast. It was a Christmas that needed to be particularly uplifting and Leo Collinson had a plan.
Tony Rasmussen, programme Developer at Te Manawa explains: ‘‘He organised a little Christmas display and the idea for that, we believe, came from an employee who had come over from England who had been a Santa at a department store in Lewisham in London.’’
Plans were dreamt up of a Santa’s Cave of grand proportions, a real Christmas grotto. And once the upheaval of war had been moved through, those dreams became reality. It was a way, says Rasmussen, to ‘‘exit a period of sadness’’.
There were mechanically animated circus characters complete with clowns, acrobats and animals that stood in rainbowlit scenery. A winding magical maze sparkled. The tradition had begun and generations of children were entranced.
The department store was sold to Farmers Trading Company in 1983 and the tradition continued.
In 2010, Santa’s Cave found a new home at Te Manawa, where it is looked after and preserved by the Te Manawa Museum Trust. With its 100th birthday looming, Te Manawa wants to celebrate the enduring icon. Rasmussen says Te Manawa is thinking about what it can do in 2018 to mark the occasion.
‘‘What we are really keen to do is for people, not only in Palmerston North, but across New Zealand and perhaps even overseas, to participate. So we would love to hear from people if they have a memory, a story, or something that they got from the cave out of the lucky dip. Photos, objects, anything that we could display would be welcomed.‘‘
❚ If you have any information or items that you would like to share contact Tony Rasmussen: tony.rasmussen@temanawa.co.nz