Take a beat from scrolling and grab a sugar cookie and some cocoa for a holiday tale with a twist, a story where Santa lands on someone else’s lap: ours and yours.
It begins in early spring at Blackberry Farm where the tulips are just starting to yawn and stretch …
***
Officially retired for 10 days after a 33-year career as district manager in the hardware store business, Robert “Rusty” Palm cruises his silver 1999 Jeep Cherokee down Galena Boulevard just west of Orchard Road on Aurora’s far west side. The 67-year-old father and grandfather (of two each) says today that “the Jeep was kind of pulling to the left as I was approaching Barnes Road” where at the intersection with Galena stands the marquee for Blackberry Farm, the Fox Valley Park District’s 55-year-old living history museum.
“I thought, ‘What the heck?’” Rusty says. “My wife and I used to take our two daughters here; it’s always been a cool place – and I love the train.”
On a whim last March, Rusty stopped in and chatted potential employment opportunities with facility manager Becky Harling, who “could feel the warmth and friendliness as he spoke about placing focus on guests, which is so important to us here.”
Fast-forward to early September after Rusty spent his first summer working as a ride operator, tugging wide-eyed kiddos with big imaginations on adventures through Blackberry – “train, tractor, carousel … really cool stuff!” he says. But as colors changed and temps dipped, staff focused on prep work for Holiday Express, the FVPD’s annual Yuletide celebration staged at Blackberry on December weekends leading up to Christmas. In its 18th year, Holiday Express delivers Christmas spirit in the form of a life-sized snow globe, complete with the replica steam engine train rattling toward the virtual North Pole.
‘It’s a big job’
Equal to the train in popularity, the North Pole Oasis in the northwest corner of the park houses the season’s biggest celebrity. This year Harling opted to fill Santa’s role in-house rather than through a contracted agency. She looked no further than an employee who indirectly auditioned for the role all summer, the man “who wants each person he interacts with to have that Blackberry Farm experience,” says Harling.
Rusty Palm, meet Rusty Claus.
“I was dumbfounded,” Rusty says when asked of his reaction. “I’ve always had the utmost respect for the image of Santa. It’s a big job.”
With just three months to create and shape his real-life Santa persona, Rusty jumped down the chimney with both feet. He secured his first helper, wife Amber of 44 years “who’s also my makeup artist,” Rusty says. He enrolled in the Worldwide Santa Claus Network, which according to its mission statement provides online programming that serves “as your gateway to embodying the true spirit of Santa.” And he earned an official “Professional Santa” certificate and participates in weekly Zoom sessions to polish his Santa etiquette and learn new tips on how to engage with children who bring their own stories and wishes to his lap (which includes a replaced right knee).
The transformation
A slender fellow at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, Rusty’s belly lacks Santa’s required jelly, so he and Amber added some makeshift padding beneath a bulky down vest under the classic dark-red suit trimmed with gold accents.
“One of our online resources sold ‘Santa prosthetics’ – you can’t make this stuff up!” says Rusty. “But I said, ‘You know what? The pillow works just fine.’”
Lastly came Santa’s signature feature: the long white beard. A natural redhead (like Kris Kringle himself), Rusty sported a beard in college and quit shaving during the pandemic, so he was no stranger to stubble. He’s grown it steady for three-plus months, and Amber uses theatrical silvering for hair – “like little bottles of mascara,” Rusty says – and “brushes it up to make it look a little more uniform.”
“It’s not quite like Edmund Gwenn in the original Miracle on 34th Street,” Rusty says, “but I think it’s looking pretty good!”
Maintaining Santa’s glow
Immersed in his new role since the day he accepted it – the ’99 Cherokee is even decked with a red nose on the grill and antlers on the roof – Rusty has completed four of his six scheduled “Santa shifts” at Holiday Express with Friday and Saturday remaining. He and Amber continue to work through potential scenarios at the breakfast table – What if a kid says this? – and “I’m trying to get him to get the ‘Ho! Ho! Ho!’ down right,” says Amber. “It has to have a certain lilt to it and I’m kind of picky that way, but I think he’s got it down now.”
When asked to summarize his experience so far – 18 demanding hours in the big, cushy chair – Rusty pauses to collect his thoughts.
“The smile, the greeting – you’ve got to be ‘on’ all the time to keep Santa’s glow going because you just don’t want to disappoint any kids,” he says. “Blackberry Farm is such a beautiful place to be, a fun place to go, and we’ve had great turnouts of families with long lines waiting to see Santa.”
A Santa who landed in our collective laps on a whim last spring. A Santa who pulls hay wagons and train cars most of the year. And a Santa with a little secret left to share, one that even predates the name he answers to today.
You see, Rusty was born Robert Lee Palm …
… on December 25, 1956.
For more information on Holiday Express or to purchase tickets, visit our Holiday Express page. The final weekend includes visits from friends Olaf (4-6 p.m. Saturday), Holly Jolly Elf (2:30-5:30 p.m. Sunday) and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (4-6 p.m. Sunday).
