Inducted 2017
Stephen Gillham
The Smart Santa
Est. 2014 ✦ The Carolinas
North Carolina's Hall‑of‑Fame Santas.
A fellowship of Carolinians inducted into the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame — keepers of an old-fashioned Christmas, in a state that still believes in it.
By the Hearth
A long needle, a long memory.
The longleaf pine grew once from Virginia to Texas, and stood tallest in the Carolinas. So did the Santas we honor.
Our charter is a simple one. We gather the North Carolinians who’ve been inducted into the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame — and we keep their stories, their craft, and their kindnesses moving forward into the next Christmas, and the next.
Some are pastors and prayer leaders. Some are scholars in red velvet. All of them have stood with thousands of children and listened, the way Santa is meant to listen.
The Roster ✦ A Sampling
Carolinians honored among the world’s most beloved Santas.
Inducted 2020
Jim Hastings
Durham’s Santa & St. Nicholas
Inducted 2023
Jim Youker
NC Friend of Santa
A real Santa doesn’t arrive in a costume. He arrives in a quietness — and the children know it before he’s said a word. — a long leaf pine santa
From the Almanac
Field notes for a Carolina Christmas.
The Long Needle
Longleaf pine needles can run eighteen inches — long enough to weave into baskets, ropes, and a particularly handsome wreath.
The Real Beard
Most of our inductees keep a beard year-round. Tradition says the beard whitens not with age but with the number of children listened to.
The Hall of Fame
The International Santa Claus Hall of Fame, founded in 2010, has inducted men and women whose work as Santa has shaped a generation.
The Carolina Hour
Visits begin, by long-standing custom, no earlier than first dusk — when the porch lamps come on and the woodsmoke turns visible.