The Danish people believe that Santa has a home in Greenland, and the Greenlandic children write letters each year to send to his secret address. Denmark and Greenland have had a close relationship regarding Christmas for a long time. Greenland imports Christmas trees from Denmark, and the Danish believe this is where Santa spends his time during the summer holidays.
Saint Nicholas, the historic figure who inspired the lovable character of Santa Claus, was born in Turkey and spent his life there.
Despite this information, nobody believes that Santa Claus actually comes from the warm and sunny climate of Eastern Europe! Santa is real if you believe in magic. The magic of Christmas and the Christmas spirit keeps him alive.
Nothing wrong with a little magic and imagination in your life. Especially now…. I think Santa lives in multiple places, including the ones above. Most of those places are in the North Pole, or Arctic Circle. Business grew rapidly. On its busiest day, in September , the New York town drew more than 14, visitors, which for a remote theme park in the Adirondacks wasn't a bad haul.
Other businessmen found success drawing tourists with the Santa Claus legend without borrowing the Arctic landmark. It was built by retired industrialist Louis J. Koch, who wanted to create something for children who traveled to the town only to be disappointed by the lack of anything resembling its namesake. Santa Land opened in and featured toy shops, toy displays and amusement rides.
Like the New York destination, Santa Land attracted tourists by the thousands. By , the theme park expanded to include other holidays, changing its name from Santa Land to Holiday World. Holiday World still attracts over one million visitors annually. The North Pole outside Lake Placid, however, has seen its popularity wane, its tiny alpine cottages no longer able to draw in the crowds of half a century ago.
Roadside theme parks of the s, it seems, no longer fascinate the way they once did. But Santa Claus has always been compelling—and while his workshop on the outskirts of Lake Placid was beginning to fade into nostalgia, two different towns—one in Alaska, the other in Finland—laid their claim to the Santa legend. Con was a former military man looking for opportunity in post-World War II Alaska, whose spacious interior promised the potential for growth and development.
He became a merchant, traveling to Alaska's interior villages to buy and trade furs and other goods. A shrewd businessman, he bought much of his product from stores going out of business, which is how he came to own a full Santa suit. Can would wear the suit on his trips to interior Alaska as something of a gimmick, and became the first Santa Claus many of the village children had ever seen.
Around , the Millers decided to put down permanent roots and set up a trading post outside Fairbanks, near the Davis homestead in what would later be called the North Pole. One day, a group of children who had seen him dressed as Santa drove by and called out, "Hello Santa Claus, are you building a house?
Santa Claus House opened in , but it wasn't immediately Christmas-themed. It was a general store typical of post-World War II Alaska, selling mostly dry goods and servicing people driving on the Richardson Highway or at nearby military bases.
The store also had a soda fountain, which became a de facto watering hole for the growing local community. For 20 years, Santa Claus House was even the town's official post office. By that time the store's purpose had also shifted, from dry goods to Santa-themed tourism. The Millers built a new storefront on the new highway, slowly but surely phasing out their inventory of canned goods in favor of Christmas trinkets.
The house, which still operates and has a staff of about 50 employees, is far and away North Pole's primary attraction and a huge boon to the local economy. Santa Claus House is a very, very large entity. It tends to dominate what people think of when they think of North Pole," Brown explains. The house itself is a simple experience—a gift shop, Brown emphasizes, rather than an amusement park. After all, there is nothing for reindeer to graze on in the North Pole, but they roam free in Lapland, as the Finnish like to say.
Rovaniemi and the surrounding area was the scene of fierce battles during WWII, was bombed by the Russians, captured by the Nazis and then devastated by retreating German troops whose scorched-earth tactics destroyed most of the city.
The group sent Santas from Lapland to as far away as Beverly Hills to promote tourism. But much of the area has been completely Santa-fied. They stamp millions more outgoing letters, sent by visitors who are keen to send mail with the Arctic Circle postmark.
Maybe that explains why Denmark just claimed sole ownership of the North Pole. By providing your email, you agree to the Quartz Privacy Policy.
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