Back to snow business  (excerpt from Angela Hill’s article published in the San Jose Mercury News)

‘Some hard feelings remain, but most have gotten back to the calling of Claus. Santa Walter, a sixth-grade teacher (his kids all know Mr. Roach and Santa are the same big, booming guy) at San Jose’s Norwood Creek Elementary School, has been Santa-ing for about nine years. He’s mostly an event Santa now, posing for photos at the Willow Glen shopping district, plus private parties, a breakfast with Santa at Happy Hollow Zoo, a company party at an In-N-Out Burger in Lathrop.

“I try to keep my number of appearances below 60 in five weeks,” he booms in his deep voice. “It’s still better than being a mall Santa. That’s a real grind. We’re entertainers, and it can be very draining. You’re ‘on’ all the time, pulling out all the stops for every child. And that’s the only way to do it. No child should ever be disappointed in Santa.”‘

Santa Walter's Boots

Santa Walter and Elf Madeline

Santa Walter Roach, working at San Pedro Square Market in San Jose, tries to limit his Santa appearances to 60 events in 5 weeks.

Santa Walter equally enthralled!

Please take a look at Santa Walter in a retouched photo into a ‘Normal Rockwell’ style painting.

Below is how it started!

Santa Walter Enthralled by a Child

Santa Walter Interview at TechCrunch

Santa Walter had a wonderful opportunity to do an impromptu interview with the folks at TechCrunch who were nice enough to air it over the Thanksgiving weekend. While touring around with Michael Celiceo to various places last Tuesday, Santa Walter was helping announce the rollout of Microsoft Windows 7 and Southwest Airlines collaboration to give free photos with Santa to travelers in 26 airports who fly SWA. Check it out below:

TechCrunch: TechCrunch Scores An Interview With Santa Claus. And Yes, His Epic Beard Is Real.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/25/techcrunch-santa/

On Ladies Night Out, Santa Walter was surrounded by beautiful models momentarily. The Willow Glen Business Association enjoyed quite an effective promotion with the support of over 40 business who stayed open late on Thursday, December 2, 2010 up and down Lincoln Avenue in San Jose’s Willow Glen area.

The Santa House for Willow Glen is open for professional photos as well as for take-your-own. Located in the Bergmann building, 1355 Lincoln Avenue, the Santa House is the host site for Wagon Rides as well. The dates and times Santa House is open are:

• December 2, Thursday — 6 to 9 PM — Ladies Night Out
• December 4, Saturday — 4:30 to 6:00 PM
• December 5, Sunday — 3 to 4:30 PM and 6 to 7:30 PM
• December 11, Saturday — 6:30 to 8 PM
• December 12, Sunday — 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM and
• December 12, Sunday — 6 to 7:30 PM — Pet Night at Santa House
• December 18, Saturday — 12 to 1:30 PM and 6 to 7:30 PM
• December 19, Sunday — 1:30 to 3 PM
• December 21, Tuesday — 1:30 to 3 PM

Chef Santa Walter

Santa Walter, along with his family including Reluctant Reindeer Debbie and Elf Della, prepared and served a Thanksgiving Dinner at Stone Church of Willow Glen, San Jose, CA, on Thursday, at 2 PM. By arriving at the church kitchen at 2:15 AM, Santa Walter put on the first 2 of 6 turkeys. An ace kitchen helper, Lawrence Summers, came in at 8:00 AM with his onion-chopping knife, and the Kitchen Crew then prepped red potatoes to go out as mashed potatoes, southern style cornbread and sausage dressing, and sliced those 20-pound turkeys ready to serve.

Many of the guests brought in favorite dishes as well. While preparing for around 50 people, this year the dinner count came in at 44 folks, with many well-wishers stopping by on their way to other family dinners. Lizanne headed up the dining room decor team and put out festive table cloths and table decorations. Rhonda and Bill brought chocolate cornucopias to share; the dessert table was really impressive with pies, cakes, cookies, as well as hand-whipped cream by Debbie.

“There are no artificial shortages!” Santa Walter exclaims. He firmly believes each participant should take home turkey leftovers, since that is also part of Thanksgiving traditions. “There is nothing like a turkey sandwich the next day.” One friend, Maureen, always asks for one of the turkey carcasses so she can make her own soup. For others, this year Santa Walter also made some turkey barley soup for folks to take home as well, even though it was not part of the dinner. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful dinner.

Santa For Events

Santa For Events has been making appearances for the Christmas season since 2003, with an extensive client list. That first season featured Santa Walter as Father Christmas for Mirasou Winery’s last Dickinson Christmas Festival and also appearing as Santa at a Wells Fargo branch grand opening, along with a few ‘pro-bono’ school appearances.

In 2008, the visits by Santa Walter totaled 64 appearances from intimate family visits, public appearances on the street, to large-scale company parties and lots of variety in between. Pictures from recent seasons are available: http://picasaweb.google.com/Santaforevents.

This season, Santa Walter is being joined by his brother, Santa Charles. (When meeting people together for the first time, often the brothers are asked if they are twins!) Santa Walter is a school teacher with extensive experience dealing with children, while Santa Charles is a retired psychotherapist dealing with hundreds of children through the years. Both love chatting with children, entertaining everyone, checking on naughty or nice behavior, and generally having fun!