New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Santa selfie station drops in to Madison
Sing-alongs, photos provide a socially distanced ‘visit’
MADISON — Ho, ho, ho! Santa has come to town and he wants you to come pay him a visit.
But this jolly old elf replica is tucked on the back porch of Walker Loden at 788 Boston Post Road, as the Madison the Santa Sing-Along Selfie Station is a Madison Chamber of Commerce initiative.
And, you can have your photo taken with this merry “Santa” 24 hours a day.
As you approach don’t be surprised if Santa starts belting out a Christmas song or two to really get you in the holiday spirit.
Nancy Welch, a Walker Loden employee, donated the singing Santa for this year’s display.
“It was my mother’s,” the Clinton resident said. “It used to dance, but it doesn’t dance anymore it just sings.”
Programmed with a menu of holiday favorites, Santa will likely surprise all visitors with a tune or two.
“There’s a motion detector so if you walk by, Santa will jump in (and) sing ‘Jingle Bells’ and it might startle you at first,” said Peter Loden, owner of Walker Loden. “But we find that the people and kids are singing along with the songs.”
While you are there, you can have a seat on the rustic bench adorned with a red blanket, stuffed Santas and holiday pillows and capture the moment with a selfie.
The Santa Sing-Along Selfie Station is a way to get a photo
with Santa and remain socially distanced in the time of COVID, but it’s in its second year and the holiday display has become popular.
Bob Bailey, his wife, Cindy and their three sons visited twice recently to capture just the perfect holiday photo.
“We’re actually thinking of making it our Christmas card photo because we liked it so much,” said Bailey.
“It was great, too, how they had the singing Santa,” he said. “Our year and half year old, Owen, was loving that music that was coming from it. It made it almost like an interactive type thing, which we really liked.”
Loden said the station is drawing in lots of families.
“I was amazed, immediately, how many families were gathered around the selfie station
to come in and sit down and have pictures taken,” he said.
“It’s mostly families, it’s not strangers, and as things move along, we wipe things down the best that we can and set it up for the next person,” Loden said.
For the Bailey family, they are already looking forward to next year.
“We’ll definitely be back next year to do another photo when the kids are a little older,” Bailey said, laughing. “We might make is a little tradition.”
For Loden, he is happy to be bringing a bit of holiday cheer to town.
“It adds to the goodwill of trying to be positive and upbeat during this whole time,” said Loden. “If you can shed a ray of light somewhere, let’s do it.”