Local Santa parades from yesteryear

By David A. Sargent

Feature Writer

Everyone knows that Santa arrives on your rooftop in a sleigh miraculously propelled by a reindeer team. But that’s just on Christmas Eve. In late November and early December, through the years, the jolly old man has made his way to the Twin Cities by some pretty spectacular modes of transportation.

In 1958, Santa sailed down the Androscoggin River in a replica of the nuclear submarine U.S.S. Nautilus. He waved from the conning tower to crowds on the shore as Rudolph’s red nose guided the vessel to a Chapel Street landing in Lewiston. An American flag flown on the sub was reported to have been aboard the real U.S.S. Nautilus on its North Pole voyage. As soon as he landed, Santa boarded a wooden jeep pulled by a dog-sled team of huskies.

A year after his submarine arrival, Santa sailed to town on a re-creation of a large riverboat. It took the same route above the Great Falls into the beginning of Lewiston’s canal system and near Peck’s, the famed store where Santa presided over Toyland.

Santa swapped his flying sleigh for small planes that brought him to Garcelon Field in the 1930s. In 1935, rain had turned the field into a muddy mess and plans for an airplane landing were changed. The crowd of kids and their parents cheered as he arrived in an automobile that year.

As early as 1911, Santa was photographed in a Penn Thirty, an open touring automobile in which he delivered gifts to deserving children throughout the Twin Cities and into the countryside.

Floats, bands and hundreds of youngsters made up the annual parades that escorted Santa to his throne at Peck’s basement level. A costumed “Barnacle Bill” greeted kids at Santa’s Toyland in the 1940s, and cartoon characters including Mickey Mouse, Popeye, Jack the Giant-Killer, and Humpty Dumpty have paraded with him through L-A streets.

Parents of younger children faced an annual dilemma when several downtown stores would invite kids to visit their Santa. The concept of “Santa’s Helpers” called for some creative explanations, but the Peck’s Santa was generally accepted as the real thing, thanks to Leroy Frank of East Poland.

In 1986, Jennifer Sullivan, Lewiston Daily Sun staff writer, profiled Frank and his 40-year career as this area’s most recognizable Kris Kringle. He occupied the Peck’s Toyland throne for nearly 20 years, and Sullivan described him as “a small, jolly man with a spring in his step and, yes, a genuine twinkle in his eye.”

This year, lots of other Santa stand-ins are suiting up. Kris Cornish, owner of Drapeau’s Costume Shop, Lisbon Falls, said the 17 costumes on her racks will all be rented on the weekends of Dec. 7 and 14. Santa suits range from bright red to deep burgundy, she said, but the style has remained basically the same. However, elf costumes have changed to reflect the look in some recent movies.

Cornish said her shop also outfits people for appearances as elves, as well as the ever-popular Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman characters, and even penguins or the Grinch.

The local tree lighting events at which Santa makes an appearance have taken place at various locations, including Lewiston’s Kennedy Park and at Vincent Square in New Auburn. The principal community Christmas tree of the 1950s was at Hulett Square in front of Peck’s.

Although routes of Christmas parades in L-A have changed through the years, the attractions are the same. The parade and tree lighting ceremonies have been held in the evening in recent years. Kids still catch candy thrown from passing floats as Santa, now accompanied by Mrs. Claus, waves to the crowds.

The inevitable question … Is Santa real? … arises as youngsters grow up. Even Leroy Frank had to deal with it, as Sullivan quoted Frank in her story.

“My boy said to me once, ‘Dad, I don’t really think there is a Santa Claus,’ and I said, ‘Well, if that’s what you think, that’s what you think. You didn’t hear it from me.’”