(Publisher’s Note: This archived article appeared on LEDE News on this day last year, and because of the differences experienced this year by Santa, we thought it would be appropriate to share the piece once again today.)
Anyone can Ho, Ho, Ho, right?
But this man, though, there’s something more if not magical when he enters a room, smiles, and then offers his initial Santa signature.
“Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas everybody!”
Sure, he has a real name just as Kris Kringle was Santa’s, and in this case it’s Mike Slenski, a resident of East Ohio who retired from the television and radio industries after 46 years.
“What’s funny is that I had known it for a long time, but it didn’t hit me until a couple of years ago that I was supposed to be born on Christmas Day,” Slenski admitted. “But I was a little slower than that because my head is pretty big, ya know?
“When I remembered my due date, I just thought it was karma coming through, and it’s just by coincidence that my beard is really white, and my mustache does really curl,” he said. “And yes, my cheeks are naturally rosey, and my eyes have a glimmer in them. I’m all natural. I don’t use any makeup except for the stuff I put on my eyebrows because they aren’t yet coming in all white.”
It is difficult for Slenski to pinpoint just one aspect of playing the Santa role that has proven the best since he first donned the red suit for a church function five years ago.
“The joy of the children is what is exciting. I love their smiles when they see Santa, but I have to tell you that the adults are just as happy and excited as the children are to see Santa Claus,” Slenski said. “I grew up here in the Upper Ohio Valley, so I sat on Santa’s lap many times at Cooey-Benz and at Stone & Thomas, so I know how much people in this valley have always, always loved Santa.
“It was a special time when I was growing up, and I remember it very well,” he continued. “The excitement and the smiles have always been there, and they still are at this time of year. It’s really wonderful to be Santa. I just love all the hugs.”
Becoming Santa Claus
His church needed a Santa Claus, and Slenski had the beard, the mustache, and even he will tell you he’s got the belly, too.
“It all started in 2014, when someone from the church I attend thought that I was kind of jolly and that I would make a good Santa,” he explained. “That’s really what led my wife to go pick up a Santa outfit, and when she did, they handed her something that looked like a shirt box. She wondered why, and in that box was a felt suit that may have fit a 120-pound man, but not a 245-pound man. So, from there, of course, I went to see my good friend Gail Finchum at Stages in downtown Wheeling.
“That first year I rented a costume from Gail, and that’s how it all began,” Slenski said. “Gail has made all of my costumes since that first year.”
Santa Slenski performed as jolly ol’ St. Nick for the church children, and he also was asked to visit a few homes following that first event. And he fell in love, not with the attention he received but with the ability to provoke renewed happiness at a time of year when memories are made and remembered for a lifetime.
“Things really changed for me in 2015, though, because I decided to go to a school for Santa Clauses, and the man who does the teaching has now trained over 4,600 Santa Clauses across the county,” Slenski said. “The man flies all across the country, and my training was a two-day event for a total of 16 hours of classes in Columbus.
“I even took an advanced course with him this past summer just to make sure I’m doing everything I should be,” he continued. “Heck, I even took the Santa Oath, and I got my degree from Santa University, and I believe that training places all of us into a different caliber of Santa Claus because you really come to understand exactly what it means.”
The instruction, Slenski said, goes way beyond those Ho Ho Hos!
“It’s mainly about the children, of course, but those classes also teach you the correct history and how to conduct yourself in so many different situations. Not every child is happy to see Santa, and that could be for any number of reasons,” he said. “And you learn there’s a business side to it, too, because you have to carry liability insurance for special events. So, it is serious stuff, but being Santa is just a very special treat for me.”
Real Beard, Real Santa?
No matter where Slenski has performed, be it at banquets or this past Sunday at the Vagabond Kitchen or at the St. Clairsville Parade or during the tree lightings in Wheeling and Moundsville, he’s always encouraged the children to pull his beard.
“They know real from fake,” he said. “They know better today about that stuff than they did even five years ago. But the people I have to watch are the older women because they are the ones who really give my beard a pretty good tug. I am the happiest guy in the world during November and December, and when everyone else seems to be in that early winter funk, I’m joyous every evening when I am active.
“And this year I am very close to being at 70 events, and nothing could make me happier,” he continued. “I travel as far as Newark, Ohio, and I go into western Pennsylvania, too, at this time of year for special events. I do a lot of different functions, and I just look forward to each and every one of them because I love to see those smiles from the children and yes, the adults, too.”
Once Santa, Always Santa
He trims his beard back at the request of his wife, Annette, but that stops no one from requesting selfies, family photos, and even impromptu question-and-answer sessions with children and adults.
Santa Slenski is a full-time Santa.
“I do constantly take photos with people when they ask, and I have portrayed Santa in the summer, and in fact I visited the Martins Ferry Strawberry Festival this past summer,” he said. “And I have done other events like that one, and I do those functions in my summer Santa outfit that includes a Hawaiian shirt and crocks.
“I tell everyone that I stopped there on the way to the beach because Santa and Mrs. Claus always go to the beach in the summer,” Slenski said with a smirk. “We leave the elves at the North Porth so they can go fishing, and the reindeer get a break, too.”
It’s the story taught to him at Santa University, after all, and he tells it over and over again without exhaustion setting in because for each and every child, without any doubt, he is Santa Claus.
“And I love when I stop to see a group of people, and they all tell me that I have made their day,” Slenski said. “How can you not feel good about making a person’s day? It’s a gift to be able to give someone a smile, especially if they are dealing with something very difficult in life, and I cherish it because God gave me the ability to do this.”
