The professional Santa business can be cutthroat and demanding — and sometimes, it takes an agent to guide the sleigh.
Eight years ago, Kelly Ferrell, a 51-year-old retired cop, was sitting on a bench at a shopping mall in Texas when he was approached by an unfamiliar woman.
“Pardon me, sir,” she implored, “but have you ever considered… being Santa Claus?”
Ferrell certainly looked the part: Since stepping down from the force, he’d grown a “big ‘ol white beard.” He was a little on the heavier-set side, with rosy cheeks and kind eyes He had, the woman said, the potential for greatness.
And so, Ferrell “became” Santa — not by the grace of self-determination or the Spirit of Christmas, but the keen eye of a Santa scout.
Beneath its wholesome exterior, the professional Santa business is a complex, occasionally cutthroat industry, where top performers are sought after much like professional athletes. But once you’re in the minor leagues, how do you learn the ropes? How do you navigate the business side of things, or negotiate contracts?
You get a Santa agent.
The Santa industrial complex
As it turned out, the woman who approached Ferrell worked for the Noerr Corporation (now Cherry Hill), a Santa training and staffing agency.
“I call them Santa wranglers,” says Ferrell. “They hang out at malls or other populated areas and throw their pitch at every white-bearded guy who comes through. They really beat the bushes to find us.”
Intrigued by the adventure of it all, Ferrell agreed to give it a shot.
Ferrell at Santa University. And yes, this is a real photo. (via Kelly Ferrell)
A farm owner in his post-cop life, he was a little “rough around the edges” — a blue jeans, boots, and baseball cap kind of guy. So, his employer enrolled him at Santa University, the equivalent of Spring Training for aspiring Saint Nicks.
He was put through an intensive training regimen involving “purple shampoo only 90-year-old women use” (to keep white hair from yellowing), beard bleaching 101, and the art of positioning a child on one’s lap....MUCH MORE
