Auckland's giant Santa

Auckland's giant Santa on the Farmers building in 1960 (left) and the Whitcoulls building in 2009 (right), shortly after his makeover.

Auckland icon or 'old dodgy man'?

In 1960 Farmers erected a giant fibreglass Santa on the front of their building on the corner of Hobson Street and Wyndham Street in Auckland. Santa was 79 ft tall (22.6 m), weighed over two tons (1814 kg) and featured a winking eye and beckoning finger, which were intended to tempt customers into the store below.

The Levin (formerly Christchurch) Santa

The giant Santa was erected on top of Farmers' Hobson Street store each Christmas for almost 30 years. But in 1990 they put him up for sale because of the massive costs of running the ‘aged and inefficient landmark’. This was the same year Farmers turned over responsibility for its Santa Parade to the Auckland Children's Christmas Parade Trust.

The Manukau City Shopping Centre purchased the giant Santa and he graced their building for three or four years. But at some point they also found the burden of his upkeep too heavy and for another couple of years he lay disused in a rigger's yard. In 1998 a marketing and events consultant, Stephen Hanford, purchased Santa from the yard for $1. It cost about $40,000 to restore the ageing Santa. This included a paint job, removing rot from the fibreglass structure and rust from the supporting structure. Over 60 people contributed time, services or money to the project.

The restored Santa found a new home above Whitcoulls on Auckland's Queen Street, and the company took on his annual bill of $55,000. This covered liability insurance, storage, and the cost of getting him up and down each year. But in December 2008 Whitcoulls declared that they could no longer absorb the cost and gifted Santa to the city. This put the burden back on ratepayers. Auckland CBD lobby group, Heart of Auckland City, subsequently asked Aucklanders whether they wanted foot the bill for Santa. Alex Swney, the CEO of the group explained:

We're happy for Aucklanders to tell us what they want for next Christmas. Is Santa an iconic Auckland institution or a sad old dodgy man?

While many had fond memories of the giant Santa, others found him and his beckoning finger ‘creepy’ (the winking eye had already been turned off because of complaints about the noise from neighbours). Rival pro-Santa and anti-Santa Facebook groups were set up. After several months of discussion the Heart of Auckland City announced that 12 polls all showed strong support for keeping Santa - and that he would be back for Christmas 2009.

The giant Santa subsequently underwent a $100,000-plus makeover with support from Heart of Auckland City, Auckland City Council, and longtime Santa supporters Farmers and Whitcoulls. The group took on board some of the suggestions that had come in from the public. When Santa was unveiled in November 2009 he had been given a more friendly appearance and his ‘creepy' beckoning finger had been replaced with a static one.