Where Santa Claus spends his summer vacation

$Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas on the Pony Express roller coaster at Knott\'s Berry Farm$

Members of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas (yes, that’s an actual organization) spent summer vacation time at Knott’s Berry Farm.

Sixteen of the shopping-mall Santas even took a ride on the horseback Pony Express roller coaster at the Buena Park theme park.

Started in 1994, the international fraternal order now boasts 700 members dedicated to the “Joy of being Santa.”

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo: Knott's Berry Farm]

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 10:00 am by Brady MacDonald and is filed under Family & Kids, Knott's, Orange County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

Hans Hansen Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 6:44 am
Nice article, but you got the name wrong on the organization. The Santas are members of The Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas (FORBS), headquartered iin Orange County. The Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas, Inc. is based in Pennsylvania. Totally separate and different groups.

Hans Hansen - member of FORBS
Valencia, CA
Brady MacDonald Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Call it Santagate.

A schism has divided the world of Santa impersonators resulting in the Fraternal Order splitting from the Amalgamated Order, according to USA Today.

Hans is correct. The photo is of the new Orange County-based Fraternal Order.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer + theme park blogger
Santa Claus Says:
August 7th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Hi, Brady:
Thought you’d like to know I’ve announced my candidacy for President of the United States. Obama and McCain refuse to address the plight of the 2 million children in the U.S. who are abused, neglected, exploited, abandoned, homeless, and institutionalized through no fault of their own. I’m a Christian Monk and volunteer children’s advocate; and, I live at Lake Tahoe. Everyone’s invited to visit my website http://www.SantasLink.net.
Blessings, Santa