Auckland Santa Moves To Wanaka Transport Museum To Retreat Closer To South Pole

Auckland’s giant Santa Claus is retiring to a new grotto at the National Museum of Transport and Toy in Wanaka.

Museum owner Jason Rhodes confirmed today that the great man and his reindeer friends will join the famous collection of more than 600 vehicles and 60,000 toys.

Rhodes said Santa is grappling with issues beyond everyone’s control to make the 1,500 km trip to Central Otago.

Santa may arrive in Wanaka at the end of the week, but because the ride takes different paths than the normal route because he is not always allowed on a state highway, there is no set arrival time.

“The guys are handling it well and knock wood, everything is going as planned, but there are always unforeseen events,” Rhodes told the Herald.

When asked how the museum came to acquire Santa, Rhodes said that, like everyone else, he was curious about what was going to happen to the giant fiberglass man and wanted to make sure it ended up in a reasonable place.

“I hate seeing things discarded in life,” he said.

Rhodes said that Santa and the reindeer, which are in 13 pieces, will not go up for Christmas this year.

Once Santa arrives and Rhodes sees the “ins and outs,” the museum will evaluate the tired five-ton body and determine what, when and how to place it for people to see.

Jason Rhodes is the son of Gerald Rhodes, a Christchurch car and truck demolition businessman who spent 50 years amassing a huge collection of classic cars, motorcycles, buses, trucks, tractors and military vehicles, plus 20 military and civilian aircraft.

Santa will also be surrounded by thousands of nostalgic toys: dolls, teddy bears, pedal cars, remote control models and piggy banks.

The museum, housed in several buildings near the Wanaka airport, celebrates its 25th anniversary on Boxing Day at the same time, Rhodes said, as it deals with the pain of tourism from the impact of Covid-19.

The Herald understands that the great man and his friends left a yard in Silverdale on the North Shore under cover of darkness last night for the trip.

Mystery has surrounded the whereabouts and future of Auckland’s giant Santa Claus, who made his last appearance atop the Farmers Building on Queen St last Christmas.

The great man who came out every holiday season for most of his 60s.

Heart of the City CEO Viv Beck hadn’t revealed anything about Santa’s new home, but following revelations from the Herald that he was heading to the transportation museum in Wanaka, the central city’s business association today issued a press release confirming your new home. .

“As Santa’s guardians, it has been very important to us to find the right home for him, and we believe we have succeeded,” Beck said in the statement.

Santa has played an important role in the history of Queen City.

The five-ton, 18m Santa was built in 1960 by Farmers for its flagship store on Hobson St. At the time it was the largest fiberglass Santa in the world.

It has since changed hands for $ 1, lost the wink and moving finger, and was crowned the world’s creepiest Christmas ornament in 2011.

Between 1991 and 1996, Santa was relocated to the Manukau Mall, but after being sold for $ 1 to special events executive Stephen Hanford, it was returned to the Whitcoulls building on Queen St in 1998 after a $ 40,000 remodel.

Retirement came in 2014, but the central city’s Heart of the City business association came to Santa’s rescue and he took pride of place atop the Farmers Building alongside two giant reindeer until it was time to say goodbye to the year. past.

Last year, Beck said that Santa was retiring for a number of reasons. They included the need for a new painting of the tired Santa Claus and his five-ton frame that costs $ 200,000 to store, maintain and assemble.

On January 10 of this year, Santa definitely hung up his red coat.