I don't know what your enduring memory of Christmas 2011 is going to be, but aside from the balmy weather, I know what mine is, especially as a new city councilor.
It must have been around 8 p.m. when I heard the familiar Christmas Eve wail of a siren alerting the Warner household that one of Cranbrook's oldest Christmas traditions was about to pass by our cozy, little bungalow. And there it was lights flashing, carols blaring and jolly old St. Nick beaming and waving from his trailer-mounted sleigh and eight reindeer pulled by a Cranbrook Fire Dept. truck and several of Cranbrook's finest inside.
And then a funny thing happened.
The old wooden sleigh was coming down 18th Ave. South and turning on 2A St. South kitty-corner to my house when the sleigh's trailer hit a pothole in our oft-criticized bad roads and poor Santa's beard fell off. Not quite off actually, but it slipped down below his chin and he had to hurriedly pull it back up in mid-wave, a well executed move on Santa's part.
I couldn't help but think it was going to be a long night for Santa and his supporting crew and this got me to thinking even more about how this unique Cranbrook Christmas tradition came about and how long it has been going on. So I put in a call to Clayton Murrell, president of Cranbrook Professional Firefighters Local 1253. He made several calls of his own and from this a fascinating tale of local history emerges that may not be exactly right in all the details but is pretty darn close just the same.
As it turns out, no one is exactly sure how long Cranbrook's fireman Santa has been making his rounds, but Clay is sure it's at least 30 years and could be more than 40. In the early days, an actual sleigh was used borrowed from a farmer or rancher in the Bull River area and pulled around, possibly even by horses, but no one is sure. Eventually, the firemen themselves built a wooden sleigh of their own and modified it several times over the years because our bumpy roads were hard on both the sleigh and Santa, Murrell says. “The poor guy would be bounced around for six hours. It was pretty tough.”
Other improvements were made too such as going from an old eight-track tape system with “terrible sound” for the carols to a modern system providing quality sound, Murrell says, who's been involved with the Santa sleigh show for 22 years.
And Murrell's length of service is typical of the fire department as a whole, he says. “Almost every guy in the department has had something to do with it over the years. We start getting calls as early as September and October about when the sleigh is going to run and the route.”
Getting ready for the big night is no small endeavour in itself because it takes about two days to set up the sleigh and trailer and plan the timing and the route. Up to eight firefighters volunteer to be part of the show and take turns during the sleigh's six-hour run around town so they can have time to be together with their own families on Christmas Eve.
Despite this, there is never a shortage of volunteers, Murrell says. “Even though they're off duty, they're happy to do it. It's so neat to see the excited looks on the kids' faces. Once you've done it once, you're hooked and eager to do it again.” In some cases, firemen doing the Santa sleigh show remember enjoying it themselves when they were children and now enjoy doing it as adults for the next generation.
“It's become a Cranbrook tradition,” Murrell says.
And yes, there are sometimes incidents during the Christmas Eve sleigh show that make the tradition even more memorable, he says. Apparently one Christmas Eve several years ago, a father, who had just finished showering was standing on the doorstep with a towel wrapped around him and holding his young toddler as Santa's sleigh went by.
The little tyke got so excited he broke free from his father's grip and ran towards the Santa sleigh. Dad got excited too and ran after his wayward son and had almost reached him when his towel fell off and he was left standing naked in the snow.
“The guys will never forget that one,” Murrell chuckles.
Happy New Year Cranbrook . . .
What a lovely story! Hopefully others will post their earliest memories.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Gerry Warner for sharing it, and special thanks to Clayton Murrell and all the firefighter volunteers who have kept this tradition going over the years.