History

In 1992 Santa AL began his Santa work at South Square Mall in Durham, NC, where he met and worked with Santa Dwight Compton. Over the years Santa AL worked malls in Cary, Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham, and all kinds of venues including parades, private parties, churches, country clubs, day care centers, commercials, print ads, the Raleigh Convention Bureau’s Celebration of Lights at Walnut Creek, and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated in Mooresville.

Santa AL had more requests than he could meet and needed help from other Santas. Santa AL and Santa Dwight began recruiting other Santas and naturally bearded men who were interested in Santa work, and groomed them for Santa services. After the 2004 season Santa AL called a meeting of the Santa Buddies and added a Buddies page to his website, SantaAL.com. The Buddies meet six times a year. The January meeting is a debriefing of the previous season and goal setting for the next. In November the Buddies visit a toy store for the latest toys update.

Santa AL’s Buddies evolved into the Triangle Santa Buddies. Having begun with five Buddies, by 2015 the Triangle Santa Buddies had 41 Santas, 12 Mrs. Clauses and 1 Elf on its roster.

The objectives of the Triangle Santa Buddies are continuing education, fellowship in the brotherhood, and mutual support in improving the quality of Santa services for the Research Triangle region of North Carolina and beyond.