Yes, Virginia Beach — there is a Santa Claus
This one waits for visitors inside a snow globe
You better wear a mask,
You better not sneeze,
Want to Zoom? Just ask,
That will be $24.95, please. Santa Claus is just trying to do his job.
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It’s not too surprising that even the big man who normally had us sit on his lap as we whispered our gift list in his ear had to recalibrate in 2020.
He, too, learned to work from home, taking video calls every day for weeks, and when he has made in-person visits to his usual indoor mall haunts, his bearded face has been bedecked in a mask and he has kept his distance. No lap sitting. Instead, visitors have typically found him on a bench sitting behind a thick plastic barrier. Say cheese!
In one Virginia Beach spot, though, he’s had his own bubble — a large inflatable snow globe in the heart of Town Center. There, the North Pole’s finest could still radiate warmth and love through his plastic shell, putting on a 3-4 hour, one-man stage show with brief intermissions for a milkshake.
Most importantly, for the man protected inside, is not needing to mask his merry dimples, his rosy cheeks, his cherry nose and his genuine joy at seeing each new girl and boy.
That man, who walks among us mortals as actor Garry Manasco
mortals as actor Garry Manasco when he’s not a conduit for Christmas magic, didn’t want children looking back on photos with him and remembering “the not so good things of 2020.”
Manasco has had fewer acting roles this year and less opportunity to train other thespians in his Manasco Actor’s Studio. There’s only so much you can teach online, he said. Santa work has been a bright spot. He updated his site, thevintagesanta.com, advertised his virtual services and became one of the first to audition and sign up for a new startup for the times, Jingle Ring, which sells video calls with Santa starting at $24.95. The calls began in October, and once a week there would be a business conference call, sometimes with up to 400 Santas on the line at once, he said.
He has fielded as many as 25 calls in a three-hour span with families and children, and he’s been invited to return next year.
“We’ve had to get a little bit creative this year, us Santas,” he said.
After hours of taking video calls, he has headed for the snow globe — a change of scenery from the cottage he sat inside last year at Town Center in Virginia Beach.
This time, there’s little sitting and waiting for the next child to approach.
“Now, I’m on for the whole time. I’m on display,” he said, hyperaware of children hoping to get his attention from any which direction.
“He’s a jewel, he’s truly a jewel,” said Jeanne Evans, executive director of the Central Business District Association, which coordinates events at Town Center including this year’s holiday offerings that have been free and open to the public.
Manasco had at least one misgiving at first. Would he pass out inside the plastic ball, in front of all the children waiting to see him? Then he saw how big it would be, fitting even a high-backed golden chair suited for Santa.
“It doesn’t make me feel swallowed up inside of it,” he said. “You kind of lose track that you’re inside there.”
The globe was the result of months of brainstorming between the Central Business District Association, its event designer husbandand-wife team A.C. Creative, based in Virginia Beach, and city staff as they all interpreted and re-interpreted the changing guidelines as the pandemic persisted.
“What we had to do was kind of stand back, regroup, and I guess, what I tried to do was put myself in the shoes of a child,” Evans said. “If I couldn’t touch Santa and couldn’t hug him and couldn’t sit on his lap, what would be the next best thing?”
They were planning to place 18 inflatable snow globes around the shopping district just like they had during the previous two years, each with a uniquely decorated tree or live performer inside. A.C. Creative suggested Santa should get his very own.
Microphones and speakers were added and a “gingerbread chalet” phone booth was built so children could still tell him — safely — what they wanted for Christmas.
Pandemic, or not, it seemed perfect. Even if an excited child broke free and tried to high-five or kiss Santa, the snow globe’s plastic bubble protected them.
“I can actually feel the warmth of their hands through the plastic,” Manasco said.
Evans has had “elves” running around constantly, “cleaning, cleaning, cleaning” smudges and smooches off Santa’s globe.
And the setup might have had an unexpected outcome: less crying by younger children not too sure about leaving their parents’ arms and sitting on this jolly fellow’s lap for the first time.
A few children have said that all they wanted this year is for their family to be healthy and for COVID to go away, but Manasco said there haven’t been as many pandemic-related wishes as one might expect.
And when he hears something surprising, he’ll take a moment to think carefully about what he’ll say next.
“My job is to give them comfort and hope,” he said. “I can’t promise them anything, but I can try to give them some hope and some peace.”
All in all, the only thing that has truly changed for Manasco is the physical distance involved with being Santa. The spirit, the magic and the joy, though, “all of that is still there.”
It’s been a pleasant surprise and perhaps a sign.
“We’re all still going to push through and try to enjoy Christmas no matter what.”