ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Craig McTavisha.k.a. Santa — has the beard. He has the belly. He even has a few tricks up his sleeve, like pulling up to parties on his Harley-Davidson in full Kris Kringle garb.
But there’s one thing he doesn’t have: work.
For freelance Santas, this holiday season has been more “no, no, no” than “ho, ho, ho.”
“This year has been a bust as far as making any money,” said McTavish, a retired firefighter who co-owns a landscaping business with his son.
“You can see the downturn from the chair,” said Nicholas Trolli, the president of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas — a 1,700-member social group the Boston Herald once dubbed “The Nation’s Premier Fraternity of A-List Santas.”
Trolli lives in Sarasota, Fla., but travels around the country as a hired Santa. On a recent day, he worked a mall in Kansas City that had to lower photo prices by 20 percent. “People are telling us they just can’t afford a photo with Santa,” Trolli said.
Santas around the nation said that in good years, they book 40 events a season and are down to fewer than 10. Others who once booked 10 events a year are down to none. The Associated Press
