Fairlawn Garden Store Santa – Dec. 1971

Huge, fiberglass statues of Santa Claus have been a part of Christmas in Northeast Ohio for a long time. Their popularity really seemed to take off in the early 1960s, with one appearing at Oakwood Shopping Center in Lorain in December 1960 (which I featured on this post). 

That "Santa holding a book” design was very popular, with the best example now being the one in Amherst that was always in front of Hot Dog Heaven for the holidays. 

A 2009 View

Santa’s back in front of the Amherst Town Hall again this year while the new restaurant is being finished up. And as I noted last year, the Hot Dog Heaven statue is a dead ringer for the one that used to be displayed at Parmatown Mall (shown on the right below).

Anyway, there’s another style of Santa Claus statue out there that was also somewhat ubiquitous. The ad below for the Fairlawn Garden Store, promoting its 17 ft. tall Santa, ran in the Journal during the holiday season several times, including December 8, 1971.

While the Fairlawn Garden Store is no more (an Acme Fresh Market sits at that location today), a quick Google search reveals that there are quite a few of these 17-foot Santas still out there, especially in Michigan. (I’ve found a few samples but can’t guarantee they are exactly the same, since they are painted differently and photographed from different angles.)

The city of Kalamazoo, Michigan has been displaying one for more than 20 years (which you can read about here and here).

Courtesy Joel Bissell and www.mlive.com

This one at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan seems to be the same design as well.

Courtesy Barbara Moser and Pinterest 

This one (recently on eBay) has seen better days. It was advertised as circa 1964. (Read about it here).

This one in Benton Harbor, Michigan was stolen in 2020.

And here’s a great story about the owner of a Connecticut Christmas tree farm and his quest to acquire a 17-foot Super Santa Claus.

Finally, click here to visit the always great Roadarch.com website. It has a fascinating collection of photos of waving Santas like those shown above, as well as some like the Hot Dog Heaven Santa. Don’t miss it!

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UPDATE

As noted in the comments, here’s are some recent views of the Santa Claus greeting visitors to Herron’s Christmas World on Cooper Foster Park Road. The Milks family opened that business in 1984. Santa is still in his original location, although the Christmas store has long since closed and the building is now home to Milks Mower Service and Milks Power Equipment.