Mary Ellen and Bill Kelly with Santa at the Fair Haven Firehouse circa 1987. Photo/Evie Connor Kelly
This is our annual reprise celebrates the upcoming traditional pics with Santa at the Fair Haven Firehouse and continues our hunt for those classic pics of miserable children not enduring their mandatory torturous visit with Santa very well at all. Send us YOUR miserable children on Santa’s lap photos! Email them to [email protected]. We’re checking our list and waiting!
Sometimes no matter how hard you try, that classic Santa pic with the kids just goes terribly awry. And we’re pretty sure that this Sunday’s visits with Santa at the Fair Haven Firehouse will be no exception.
Where’s the fire, Santa? Or were you just out for a joy ride on the big white truck? Prospective answers are questionable in the face of the Santa sighting on Friday in Fair Haven.
The answers? Well, they say that once a year, Santa parks his reindeer-drawn sleigh at the Fair Haven Firehouse and hitches a ride on the flashing, blaring firetruck to greet all the good boys and girls in town and kick off holiday festivities and a tree lighting.
Everyone accepts it as fact. And considering the joyous holiday mayhem overriding usual inquiring little minds that won’t quit, no kid ever really wondered why he couldn’t just ride that sleigh a few blocks down the street. I mean, he had already made it all the way from that North Pole. What’s a few blocks more? Something’s elfin-like mysterious about this firehouse/fire truck affinity of ol’ Saint Nick’s.
Then there’s his obvious friendship with the firefighters (ahem, as witnessed in the featured photo). Hmmmmm …
Yeah, yeah, he sees and knows all. But, what’s the Santa deal with being sleighed by all things fire company?
OK. Suspicions of decades’ long Santa and his magic firefighter connection pretty much point to one thing: In his spare time, Santa’s a fireman. Well, he’s at least a firemen groupie.
My mother always told me that the firehouse and firetruck Santa we saw around town before Christmas was an elf subbing for the real deal. Na. Sorry, Mom. I think the other deduction is more on target. Ho, no? Ho, yes!
And, hey, kids, should the suspicion be true, it’s a double the Santa pleasure for you. Let’s face it, between the trucks, the firehouse, the reindeer, the suits (fire and red) and the lights, sirens and action, there’s nothing more magical.
Oh, right. There’s the volunteer spirit and smile. Wait. Does Santa stay at the firehouse until it’s time for more of those traditional photos there? Molly Pitcher? Hmmmm …
Cheers to the Santa spirit! And thanks to the fire company elves for capturing the moments.
The Harvey boys’ visit to Santa at the Fair Haven Firehouse 2015 Photo/Paula Harvey
The following miserable children with Santa photo and narrative was originally posted in 2015. We just can’t resist featuring this classic again. Meet (or re-meet) the Harvey kids …
Santa Claus, Tim McLoone & the Shirleys, school choruses and a lot of festivity came to Victory Park at the usual spot on Sunday for the resurrection of the annual tree lighting.
R-FH Retro got a good glimpse into the pre-show fun. Take a look … (And don’t forget to click on one photo to enlarge and scroll. Enjoy!)
Ohhhhh, the pain … of pandemic distancing? Well, when you look back at some scary Santa experiences, you start to think, uh, not so much. The pandemic may have spared some kids a lifetime of PTSD flashbacks of Beelzebub cloaked in ol’ Saint Nick garb and merriment.
It’s the year without close Santa encounters. Santa came to town, but not to the Fair Haven firehouse, as with every year since the dawn of most area kids’ time. We’re told there have been some other masked, distanced Santa visits in 2020 pandemic holiday times, but the laptop visit is out, so is the firehouse extravaganza. So, in honor of the traditional visit, whispers, close-up scary gander at that beard, promises of being good and gifts, our annual reprise takes everyone back to that firehouse visit … or wherever … with Ol’ Saint Nick …
It’s that time of the year when a longstanding Fair Haven tradition has taken hold — photos at the firehouse with Santa.
It’s another Fair Haven tradition you can always count on.
There’s no keeping Santa from a little pre-Christmas drop-in, pandemic or not, especially when there’s a fire truck for the transport.
On the heels of a canceled usual holiday celebration in Fair Haven’s Memorial Park and knee-top Santa time at the firehouse, sirens a blaring, Santa cruised all the way around town on Sunday. Fair Havenite Susan Culbert captured a moment of the drive-by.
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