Ever been to a gathering of Elvis impersonators/tribute artists? Where you’re in a big room and they start drifting in and soon enough you are surrounded by Elvii? Pretty surreal. And yet very much like being at a gathering of Santas, like the International Santa Celebration going on Friday and Saturday at the Renasant Convention Center and culminating Sunday with a noon parade on Beale Street.
They won’t be humming “Love Me Tender,” but there’s laughter and camaraderie and conversations about the various workshops and sessions taking place. You can always find attendees in the vendor area as well, looking at everything from fancy Santa suits to accessories and scads of holiday tchotchkes .
And not just Santas — there are Mrs. Santas, Ms. Santas, elves, and others devoted to holiday entertainment. It’s also surreal, but instead of jump-suited Elvis clones, you’re surrounded by white-bearded Hawaiian-shirt bedecked Santa Clauses.
For Shawn Coley, it’s his first time in Memphis and he’s delighted to tell his story. Having come from Jacksonville, Florida, he says, “My wife and I go by Soulful Santa and Mrs. Claus.” And he is completely into being Santa, although it took some persuading. “I am a Grinch by nature,” he confesses. “But I married a woman who loved the holidays and loved everything about Christmas. For years she would always try to talk me into being Santa Claus. She would say, Shawn, you have the face, the mentality and the heart to do this. And not only that, you have the initials.”
And it grew from there to where they have their own business — Christmas With The Coleys — as Santa and Mrs. Claus. Find them at @soulfulsantaandmrsclaus on Tiktok.
Also attending was Kerry Pollock of Lexington, South Carolina, sporting a fashionable Mrs. Claus ensemble. Her husband is Santa and persuaded her to come with him on his rounds. But she was reluctant. “I was a kindergarten teacher and told him I couldn’t do it because some of the children might recognize me.”
But then she decided she could do it in the persona of “Peppermint.” “If we ran into any of my children,” she said, “I’d say ‘I miss teaching so much, but Santa got in touch with me and said he needed me to drive him around when he’s in town visiting children.’”
