![]() He embraces Santa Claus as derived from the Dutch for St. “It’s a very powerful tool that helps me accomplish some of the stuff that I enjoy pursuing on behalf of children in dire straits.”Ī couple of years later, Claus moved to North Pole to make the name have an even bigger impact.Ĭlaus is now more likely to don his monk’s robes than the typical red holiday suit. “Santa Claus is a more effective name when I contact state and federal legislators,” he said. For him, the name has a practical purpose. He felt led to change his name in 2005 while planning a national Santa’s Bless the Children Tour, visiting all 50 governors to discuss the plight of vulnerable children. Services offered? Miscellaneous (Screenshot from City of North Pole website).Ĭlaus looks like his namesake, and had long been filling the holiday role for nonprofit organizations that serve children. There is Santa Claus, on the business listing for the city of North Pole, Alaska. And yes, his name is legally Santa Claus. “SANTA CLAUS – NORTH POLE – ALASKA,” it said and listed his services as “Miscellaneous.” Turns out he is a Christian monk, an advocate for children’s health, and sometimes a politician. I found Santa Claus while reviewing the business listing on the town of North Pole’s website. Even in the digital age, “snail mail” is a major export from North Pole.Ī real Santa Claus welcomes folks to North Pole (Photo provided by Santa Claus).Īt least one tour bus full of philatelists - postage stamp collectors - came to North Pole, and one customer bought a thousand stamps that day. ![]() During the holiday season, they get five hundred letters like this a day. The letter from Santa gets sent to the child with a North Pole postmark. Postal Service (USPS) offers a DIY option, where caregivers or teachers send a child’s Santa letter along with a response. It took a lot of coordination, and a lot of work. Through the years, different volunteer groups of residents have responded to them, as a school, church, or community project. According to Lisa Wineland, the Postmaster of Fairbanks that oversees North Pole, they can see 5,000 letters a day just from Santa Claus House during the busy season.Įver wonder what happens to letters addressed to “Santa Claus, the North Pole”? Hundreds of thousands of letters annually flood into the Alaskan town. That makes for a mighty busy post office. “In the last 70 years, we have mailed over two million letters to children in every country in the world.” A Blizzard of Mail Santa Claus feeds one of the reindeer at the Antler Academy (of Flying and Reindeer Games) adjacent to Santa Claus House (Photo provided by Santa Claus House). ![]() “It began the year the house opened, when air men from nearby Eielson Air Force Base would ask Con to write postcards to their families back home,” Brown explained. ![]() The physical shop is just the tip of the iceberg of their holiday empire their behind-the-scenes work sending personalized letters from Santa ranks as the state’s largest online seller. Paul Brown is the Operations Manager and the third generation (by marriage) of the Miller family to join the business. Con and Nellie Miller originally opened Santa Claus House in 1952 as a general store in the remote area where they homesteaded, north of Fairbanks, Alaska (Photo provided by Santa Claus House). ![]()
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