As cars with license plates that read things like "Santa Claus" and "Nicelist" rolled through a wooded area of New Hampshire, the temperature climbed into the 80s.
The vehicles were manned by Santa Claus himself— well, multiple Saint Nicks — and they were headed to a campground complete with log cabins, a lake, picnic tables and classrooms. The drivers wearing red and green clothes, some with long white beards, got out of their cars ready for their first day of camp — Santa Camp.
Months before Santas would arrive at malls and stores, the New England Santa Society held its ninth annual Santa Camp retreat, from Aug. 23-25 at the Barbara C. Harris Camp & Conference Center in Greenfield, New Hampshire. The retreat, held within the center's wooded 325 acres, aims to give holiday performers an isolated place where they can learn from and befriend others in the industry through classes and bonding activities.
West Hartford resident Chip Adams, wore a Santa hat, a green Santa Camp instructor shirt and red Crocs; he waited by the conference center's doors and welcomed his fellow New England holiday performers. Many of the people he greeted were visiting the camp for the first time, but it was Adams' seventh year. He first got the idea to play Santa when working at Southwick's Zoo in Massachusetts, tending to the deer. Given his companions and his long white beard, children would often walk up to him and question if he was the real Santa. He bought a red suit and researched what it would take to play the character, connecting with the New England Santa Society and attending Santa Camp to hone the craft.
"What's interesting is (most people) have no idea what's going on behind some guy at Christmas time coming out in a suit. Where do you get the suits? ... How does that all happen? This is what Santa Camp teaches you," Adams says.
Now, he aims to teach others what he learned, including how to dress, create a back story for the character and how to talk to children and adults with empathy.
Like Santa and Mrs. Claus, Dan and Diana Greenleaf have to deal with a range of emotions when they chat with children like Nolan Murphy, 1, from Deerfield, who is crying during his first visit with Santa. His sister Amelia, 5, looks on in this 2022 file photo.
Thomas Roy/Union LeaderOf the around 90 holiday performers that visited the camp this year, 12 were from the Nutmeg State, according to the acting president and founder of the New England Santa Society Dan Greenleaf. For Greenleaf, seeing all the holiday performers in one place is a dream realized. The Manchester, New Hampshire, native says that when he first performed the role of Saint Nick, he didn't know any other Santas in his area. While attending a conference in San Diego, Greenleaf ran into another Santa from New Hampshire and realized that while there weren't many groups for holiday performers, there was no shortage of them in New England. In 2012, Greenleaf joined forces with other local holiday performers and founded the New England Santa Society.
As the society grew over the years, it aimed to offer its members educational programs. While the first couple years of Santa Camp offered a single course, it has since grown to include multiple classes for people of all experience levels. And it's not just Santas; Mrs. Claus and Santa's elves are also welcome to attend. The society aims to not only allow holiday performers to build new skills and gain professional connections but also create lifelong friendships, Greenleaf adds.
Greenleaf says the society chose the Barbara C. Harris Camp & Conference Center because it has no distractions: no TVs with cable, no bustling city streets and offers plenty of room for both indoor and outdoor activities. Visitors to the center can stay overnight in the log cabins on the campsite.
"I love that it's in the middle of nowhere," Greenleaf says.
Though secluded, the camp has not been hidden from the spotlight; it was featured in a 2022 Max documentary titled "Santa Camp." The film is focused on the journey of three non-traditional Santas — a Black man, a transgender man and a man with a disability — as they attend the camp in the hopes of becoming professional Santas. Throughout the film, the cast bonds with other holiday performers through activities like paddling on the lake while wearing Santa suits and sharing stories around a campfire. It also features scenes of New England Santa Society members outside of camp, eating at their regular Santa Suppers through New England and taking a dip at the Lake Compounce waterpark in Bristol.
While the documentary showcased the joy felt by both the performers and the children they met, it also delved into challenges. On camera, Chris Kennedy, who plays Santa as a Black man, reads a letter filled with racist language that accuses him of trying to "deceive children" into thinking that Santa isn't white. Levi Truax, who is transgender, is protested at an event by the Proud Boys, which are classified as a right-wing extremist group by the Anti-Defamation League. Finbar Ciappara, a young man who has a disability that makes it difficult to communicate, recalls painful memories of people mocking him. However, by the end of the film, each of the three non-traditional Santas makes new friends and goes on to have more confidence when playing their character.
The documentary inspired West Haven resident Richard Rose to attend camp. Rose wants his Santa to be similar to Merlin, a magician from the legend of King Arthur, rather than the religious figure of Saint Nicholas. Alongside the traditional fuzzy red and white suit, Rose's Santa wields a wooden staff carved with the names of each of Santa's reindeer. He has performed for Connecticut Hospice and New Haven's Rosette Neighborhood Village, which aims to provide housing for those experiencing homelessness.
Taking out a pencil, designed to look like it was covered in Christmas wrapping paper, Rose jotted down notes as he took his first class at the camp. The class, "Preparing for the Sleigh," is an introductory course that teaches the fundamentals of being a good Santa, including having a "big heart," a "boundless spirit of love and joy," a "childlike spirit," the ability to connect with those of all ages and a "permanent smile."
During the class, Rose laughed, "ho, ho, ho," and joked with his fellow Santas. He added that one of the best parts of being at the camp was experiencing all the positive energy and learning from the experiences of others.
"I'm not a magician, and there are magicians here, I'm not a puppeteer and there are puppeteers here," Rose says.
Next to Rose during the class was Woodbridge resident Mark Hall, also on his first visit to Santa Camp. The bearded Hall, sporting a red Santa Camp shirt, says that over the years he would wear a Santa hat around Christmas time and children would see him and get excited. The joy those experiences brought him made him want to play Santa regularly. He hopes to one day work as a Santa on a train ride like the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat Museum.
"(Santa Camp) gives you things to think about, like how to hone your whole back story and working with other performers," Hall says.
As lunchtime rolled around, Santas, Mrs. Clauses and elves lined up with empty plates in hand. The group scooped up salads and built burgers from patties, caramelized onions and goat cheese. Many topped off their meals with one of Santa's favorite treats, a chocolate chip cookie.
Trumbull resident Jeff Gedney sat at lunch with his wife Deborah Gedney and her sister, Wallingford resident Cynthia O'Ravitz, joking and singing Christmas songs with their fellow campers. For them, a trip to Santa Camp was about more than just being better holiday performers; it's about bringing their family closer together. Each member of the trio plays a different Christmas character: Jeff dresses up as Santa, Deborah plays an elf with a green hat covered in mushrooms and O'Ravitz plays Mrs. Claus. The family, visiting the camp all together for the second time, also often attends —in full attire — the New England Santa Society's monthly Santa Suppers. The sisters add that their adventures have helped strengthen their bond as they experienced difficult losses over the past few years, including the death of both of their parents.
"The magic of Christmas lasts all year round. That's because the magic of Christmas is not dependent upon anything else but us," Jeff says. "We're all here just to make the world a little bit more magical. When we get a chance to appear together, that's the best thing."
When O'Ravitz and Deborah were children, their parents used to take the pair to see Santa at Macy's in New York City. Deborah says that "no matter what" she asked of Santa, she always got it regardless if it was a toy or a job. When she turned 30, she asked Macy's Santa "for a husband" for Christmas and within a year she and Jeff, who happens to portray a Santa, were married.
"Not only did Santa get me a husband, but my husband is Santa," Deborah says. "If you put it in a Hallmark movie, you would think, 'Oh, come on, could it be more sappy?' But it's true and that's why I started this thing."
Jeff adds that while he has been portraying Saint Nick for around 25 years as a hobby, the joy it has given him has motivated him to transition that role into one of his main sources of income once he retires. He says there are many avenues for Santas to make a living, including performances at malls, private parties, on trains and in nursing homes. He adds that some people will pay more than $500 for a Santa at a private party. This year he took classes at Santa Camp on how to market himself on social media, in hopes of reaching more individuals in need of a Santa.
"This is my retirement plan. Plus, it's so much fun. I'll tell you, there's no feeling in the world like sitting down and having some kid come running up and jumping into your arms and saying 'I love you, Santa Claus.' How could anybody have a bad day doing that?," Jeff says.
Deborah says she never related to the Mrs. Claus character, so she portrays an elf. At Santa Camp, she teaches a course on elf-like creatures in various cultures, including fairies, Yōseis (spirits from Japanese mythology) and Aluxes (spirits from Mexican and Mayan culture that resemble miniature people).
One of her students is Middletown's Cindy Lopez, who plays Mrs. Claus and works independently from Santa. Lopez says she was surprised by the number of female holiday performers she became friends with, many of whom encouraged her to come to Santa Camp.
"I thought I was going to be some anomaly, but it was really comforting to see that there were a lot of other women already involved. ... I knew I was going to find a brotherhood. But what pleasantly surprised me was that I found a sisterhood," Lopez says.
Greenleaf adds that there is much work to be done to make more individuals of all backgrounds feel more welcome playing holiday characters. This year, the group established the New England Santa Society Memorial Fund, to honor deceased members and help new members pay for things like costumes and Santa Camp visits.
"It's very expensive to become a Santa or Mrs. Claus ... so we wanted to give them a way to get started and do it right by coming to a school and learning what they need to know," Greenleaf says.
During the afternoon, the holiday performers made their way to an outdoor area of the campgrounds to gear up for the "Reindeer Games." Stuffing tan pantyhose full of golden star-shaped ornaments and placing them on their heads as reindeer "antlers," teams danced while they sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" together at the top of their lungs. Rather than being competitive, the games are meant to be icebreakers for holiday performers to become more comfortable with each other.
As the sun set on the evening of the first night of Santa Camp, the holiday performers returned to the area where they played their Reindeer Games, this time wearing pajamas. They tossed logs into a fire pit and lit it ablaze. As they gathered around the fire, some drank hot chocolate, some drank alcohol and some shared funny stories. Before heading back to their log cabins, they each tossed a stuffed animal into a sack to be donated to a child, in the hopes of making this Christmas a little more special.
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