Projo Subterranean Homepage News

Wednesday:
Longtime Mall Santa Out in the Cold by Fredrick Kunkle
Tysons Corner Favorite Being Replaced This Year

Michael Graham has been Santa at Tysons Corner Center for so long that many who visited him when they were young have brought their own children to experience his magic: a real snowy beard, a twinkle in his eye, a way with children that conveyed the presence of a kind and timeless character. He drew family members from the Washington region and beyond who stood in long lines for hours and brought albums with pictures taken in his lap from Christmases past.

But after 18 years of planting children on his knee, Graham said yesterday that the Fairfax County (Va.) mall is not inviting him back this year. Graham said he's not sure why, particularly because he had a contract until 2012. A spokeswoman for the company that manages the mall said Graham has done nothing wrong. It's just that the company wanted a different Santa signed on by the new photo operator who will run the event.

That leaves Graham, 51, without work this holiday season and with visions of foreclosure dancing in his head. Graham, who works as a carpenter in a small Tennessee town when he's not minding the store at the North Pole, said he was counting on the $30,000 he would earn as Santa when he bought a new house last year.

Now it's too late to book another mall, and he has already spent a good bit of money preparing for Christmas. It's not elves who make each of the three $900 custom-tailored velvet suits he goes through each year, or the boots that go for $725 a pair. ...

Santa...canned?

Thursday:
Santa Firing Nets Lump Of Coal for Mall, Apology by Fredrick Kunkle

Tysons Corner Center officials apologized yesterday for leaving Santa Claus out in the cold this holiday season.

Responding to hundreds of calls, an online petition and threats to boycott the mall for giving its longtime Santa the heave-ho with little notice, a spokeswoman said company officials were working with Michael Graham to reach a financial settlement and find a chair for him in a Santaland -- somewhere.

"We offer a deep apology to Mr. Graham and to our shoppers," said Allison Fischer, a spokeswoman for Macerich, which operates the mall. "We hope that Mr. Graham, our shoppers and everyone across the country who has been affected by this situation will understand."

Uh-oh, that's the cue for the Ghost of Christmas Past. Did you sleep well, Ms. Fischer?

Friday:
'Tis a Reason to Be Jolly: Tysons Santa Rehired by Fredrick Kunkle

Yes, Virginia, there is a clause, and it's in a new contract that will allow Santa to return to work.

Tysons Corner Center and Santa -- aka Michael Graham -- reached agreement in principle yesterday to return him to the Santaland in the Fairfax County mall where he has dazzled tens of thousands of children for 18 years, both sides said.

After an angry and impassioned outcry that included thousands of e-mails, phone calls, an online petition and the threat of a boycott, America's sixth-largest mall reversed course, giving the drama a happy ending that seemed to have been snatched from the screenplay of "Miracle on 34th Street.''

Aww...

Fairfax County, you rock. Mr. Kunkle, I bet you get lots of toys under your tree this year. As for the mall's owners, nothing but coal till your values change.

 Tags  Santa

---

Leave a comment

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.