By Morgan M. Hurley | SDUN Assistant Editor
The official Balboa Park December Nights Santa will be the first to tell you he is not your typical mall Santa. But once you meet him, that fact is obvious. Not only does he not need to hang a fake white beard over his ears, or stuff two pillows under his shirt, he is one of the jolliest fellows you will ever meet.
In fact, he exudes jolly.
Bill Swank wears a lot of hats besides the cap of good old St. Nicholas, but being Santa Claus in Balboa Park three nights out of the year makes him happier than a child on Christmas morning.
“It’s the last thing I ever thought I’d do,” Swank said.
Over the years he had been approached by people, other professional Santas and companies asking him if he would like to make money by putting on that big red suit. He always turned them down. Then one year, he was filling up his plate at Hometown Buffet when he felt something around his leg.
He moved his tray and peered over his midsection. “It was a little Mexican girl, really tiny, and she had both arms wrapped around my leg and she said, ‘I love you Santa,’” Swank said. “I patted her on the head and said, ‘I love you, too, honey.’”
A year later, when he was approached about working as Santa for the Community Christmas Center, the organization that runs December Nights, he remembered that little girl. “It’s one thing for adults to tell you to be Santa,” he said, “but when a kid sees you and they have that reaction, it’s meant to be.”
Eleven years later, this retired probation officer is still having a blast.
“It’s interacting with the kids and their families,” Swank said, standing in the middle of the Balboa Park Organ Pavilion. He seemed to get a little choked up over this revelation. “I’ve never had my beard pulled. Little babies put their fingers in it, but that’s not intentional.”
His annual gig started with the lighting of the Christmas Tree at the Organ Pavilion, this year on Saturday, Dec. 1. While he sat with children for a short while after lighting the tree, it is the following weekend’s December Nights celebration – Friday, Dec. 7 and Saturday, Dec. 8 – where he really puts the hours in, looking forward to every minute.
“I’m not a mall Santa,” Swank said. “I’m not sure how they work [today], but when I would take my kids to the malls when they were kids, there wasn’t too much interaction. I don’t want to disparage other Santas, but I talk with the kids and I make a point of talking with every kid. I try to have fun with them and laugh. The lines move slow but I think the people enjoy [it].”
And by all accounts they do. The lines to sit on Santa’s lap wrap all the way around the pavilion for December Nights, and many children come back year after year.
“I didn’t have any Santa training,” Swank said. “I knew that kids would be shy and some would be afraid of Santa. If I’m told that, I back off, but otherwise, I have fun and I’m a loud Santa.”
Swank said each year he picks a couple of shy ones out of the crowd, pointing to them and saying, “Hey, there you are! You came! I’ve been waiting for you!”
