Are you going to see Santa this year?
Phil Tracy, the new jolly old elf running Santa's Workshop, walks toward his "house" to greet young visitors. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)
When the sun sets and the temperature dips at Santa's Workshop, the 55-year-old Christmas village and kiddie amusement park nestled in the mountains northwest of Colorado Springs, the last man on site just happens to be the big man on campus.
Santa Claus, played this year for the first time by longtime area resident Phil Tracy, feeds reindeer and llamas before retiring to a single-wide, on-site trailer he calls home.
"(Santa) is here any time the park is open," says general manager Tom Haggard.
And as it turns out, Tracy is here when it's not.
Haggard and Tracy's friendship dates back to their youth, when both worked at Santa's Workshop — just like myriad other youngsters who grow up near Pikes Peak. After years away from Colorado (and pining to get back), Tracy is now among the 80 or so seasonal employees who have spent recent weeks readying themselves for this, their prime time, when easily more than 2,000 people will visit on a single day.
"Summer is steady," Haggard says, "but not explosive like the holidays."
The kitschy allure of Santa's Workshop includes its magic shows, kiddie-sized train, blacksmith shop, arcade, funnel cakes, souvenir shops, and rides like the Candy Cane Coaster and the up-and-down Christmas Tree.
Yet Santa Claus is the main draw, second only to "Santa's Post Office," where cards and gifts that arrive before Dec. 21 are reshipped with a North Pole postmark.
"Corny" is good
Holiday music is the year-round soundtrack at this 27-acre park inspired by a similar one in Lake Placid, N.Y., that was conceived by a former Walt Disney artist. Colorado's version of the North Pole is outfitted with oversized candy canes and iced-gingerbread-looking cottages, many constructed from native lodgepole pines.
There are few holiday decorations to hang here because Santa's Workshop is always decked out in red and green and twinkling lights. So the staff
ramps up for this time of year by installing outdoor heaters, touching up paint on the facilities, and readying snowblowers and plows for the inevitable overnight dump.
"We are not a thrill park," Haggard says. "To a lot of people, we are a step back in time."
He isn't offended if the word that comes to mind for some visitors is "corny." Haggard concedes that he didn't fully appreciate Santa's Workshop, which was run by his parents before him, until he had kids of his own.
"We are not all things to all people," Haggard says. "We cater to families with young children."
The boss' biggest tip for his new Santa Claus: It's a tough job, so get plenty of rest.
"On busy days, the line to see Santa will literally be across the park," Haggard says.
Nonstop smiling and conversation are a must with this gig. The suit is hot, and, yes, there will be the occasional crying child.
"Have to love kids"
"You just have to love kids," says Tracy, 59. "If you love kids, you're going to be patient with them."
A Saint Nicholas doppelgänger with a full, white beard and wire-rimmed spectacles, Tracy also is a journeyman glazier and a former nightclub owner. He broke into the Santa Claus business last year as the main man in red at Madison Square Mall in Huntsville, Ala., where he was briefly living to be closer to extended family.
"It's a big responsibility," Tracy says of the job. "Santa is the only stranger that kids are allowed to talk to."
It comes as little surprise to maintenance man Doug Haddock that the park's new Santa Claus spent the better part of his childhood growing up in nearby Cascade. "I don't think there's a kid in (this area) who hasn't worked here," says Haddock, 45, another Colorado native who easily becomes nostalgic for his own childhood field trips to Santa's Workshop.
"The Christmas Tree ride was here when I was a kid," Haddock recalls.
As for Tracy, he considers this spot to be his little slice of heaven. He loves the forested, high-country setting and the geese that wander from the park pond to his trailer after hours. He jokes about living in "a gated community."
"The only way I'll leave here," Tracy says, "is in the coroner's van."
If you go...
Santa's Workshop is located at the foot of Pikes Peak at 7,500 feet. Management likes to remind visitors that the weather at that altitude is unpredictable, and the park is only open when Mother Nature cooperates.
Where: 5050 Pikes Peak Hwy., Cascade
Hours:10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through December 23; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve, after which it is closed until mid-May. The park is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Admission: $12.95-$17.95.
Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/insideandout/ci_19415387#ixzz1fIwDia3b
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