Santa Claus is Coming to Town Today to Start the 37th Annual Holiday Traditions

Santa Claus is coming to town, and he and Mrs. Claus will be arriving in style by horse-drawn carriage at 11 a.m. today to kick-off the 37th annual Christmas Traditions at Kister Park in downtown St. Charles.

It’s a fun time of year in St. Charles, something the city builds toward throughout the year.

"We do a lot of events and festivals in St. Charles over the course of every year – probably in the neighborhood of about 100 or so," said Carol Felzien, director of communications for the City of St. Charles. "Everything leads up to this – Christmas Traditions is the pinnacle of our festival season. It’s sort of our sweet spot, if you will. It’s a successful way to end the year."

The Clauses will be escorted by the Lewis and Clark Fife and Drum Corps and the Legends of Christmas, a cast of 34 Christmas characters from a Victorian-era Santa to Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol. The characters, all with a back story, will roam the downtown area meeting and talking with visitors. World War II Santa, for instance, wears Army fatigues and a helmet and discusses Christmas during the war years of the 1940s.

"He’s talking about real-life things that would’ve happened during that time period, and he interacts with the other Santas who are there," Felzien said.

Another Santa is Pierre Noel, representing Christmas in France. Like all the other characters, Pierre has a history and is prepared to discuss it.

"A lot of times people will be saying things to him on the street, like ‘Oh, what are the traditions in France?’ Then Pierre Noel would go into a litany of how they manage the Christmas spirit in another country."

Other Santas include Victorian Santa, who when he isn’t wandering around meeting folks is available for pictures at Santa’s Cottage in the lower level of the tourism center at 230 South Main Street; Frontier Santa, from the time of Daniel Boone; Civil War Santa, dressed in the colors of the American flag and looking like the Thomas Nast cartoon; England’s Father Christmas, a Charles Dickens type character; Julenisse, a Scandinavian Santa who travels with a goat named Yuley; and MacNicholas, a Scottish Santa dressed like a bagpiper.

"That’s just Santas," Felzien said. "We’ve got some other awesome characters."

The Ice Queen and her minion, Jack Frost, will also be on the scene.

"They are kind of a hoot together," she said. "They’re not as bah humbug as Ebeneezer Scrooge, for example, but they have a funny little schtick where the Ice Queen talks about how she’s holding a grudge against Santa for something that happened years ago at a Christmas party. Of course Jack Frost just wants it to be cold all the time, and the Ice Queen wants to turn everybody into ice statues. So there’s lots of fun things like that, you know? Everybody has their own little lingo that they say on the street when they’re talking to people."

Each character has a trading card to pass along to the public. The front of the card has the character’s name and photo, and the back offers a description and background of the character.

"Their schtick, if you will, their drama or whatever they say to people they meet on the street, is based on that background," Felzien said.

Victorian Carolers known as the Cobblestone Wassailers will stroll the downtown area as quartets throughout the Christmas season, dressed in Victorian-era costumes and singing four-part harmony on traditional Christmas carols.

"They’re all characters in and of themselves," Felzien said. "If you talk to them, they all have a story to tell."

Today’s opening day festivities also include the official lighting of the Christmas tree at 5 p.m. in Berthold Square in the 200 block of South Main, presided over by St. Charles Mayor Sally Faith. In a gesture to make this a "green" Christmas, the tree will become a permanent resident of the town.

"Our parks department has planted a live tree," Felzien said. "It’s a pretty good-sized tree – bigger than anything you could have in your house."

The characters will all be on hand Saturday and Sunday, and during festival hours throughout the season. Saturday will also feature a Clydesdale horse, available for photos 2-4 p.m. in the 200 block of North Main (weather permitting). A Santa parade starts at 1:30 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday during the Christmas season, beginning at Boone’s Lick and South Main. Parents can win a chance for their children to ride in the carriage with Santa and Mrs. Claus by going to the festival Web site.

The following Saturday, Dec. 3, the Las Posadas Procession re-creating Joseph and Mary’s search for an inn in Bethlehem will start at 6 p.m. at South Main and Boone’s Lick, The procession will head to the stage in Frontier Park for singing by local choirs, a live Creche and the lighting of the Yule log. Also, the Santa Send-Off will start at 1:30 p.m. Christmas Eve.

Felzien said Christmas Traditions draws visitors from around the country and other parts of the world, and it’s easy to see why.

"It is kind of magical," she said. "I like to come down with my family on like one of those evening shopping nights. I love the parades, and I love all the stuff that goes on during the day, but there’s just something really magical about being down here at night, when all the lights are glowing and everything looks so festive. To me, that really puts me in the holiday spirit. I always hope that we have at least one night that it snows, because that just really makes me feel like it’s Christmas."

Festival hours are 6:30-9 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays; noon to 5 p.m. Sundays and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Christmas Eve. The entire festival guide is available online.