It's a holly jolly Christmas all year long for many of these "authentic" Jersey Santas.
It's hard not to bump into Santa at this time of year. Whether perched on a float in a Christmas parade, ringing a bell for the Salvation Army or seated before a line of wriggling children winding through the mall, the "right jolly old elf" is in great demand. As well he should be.
But this is about a different breed of Santa. It's about bearded Jersey guys who bleach their facial hair and star in television commercials. These Santas keep the spirit alive all year long and command celebrity status, often stopped by awestruck tots as they walk down a sidewalk in July. Many have a closetful of custom-made Santa suits, along with fiercely loyal clients who might fly them to Florida for a private party or book them to appear at (or preside over) a wedding.
Most, if not all, have liability insurance and undergo an annual background check. Some share trade secrets as members of fraternal Santa organizations, such as the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas and the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas.
And they charge anywhere from nothing (for a charitable event) to $500 or more, depending on the gig.
There are many dedicated Santas in the Garden State who seek only to keep the wonder alive. Here, we share the stories of a handful of Jersey Santas who know how to work the ho, ho, holidays throughout the year.
SANTA TOM AND MRS. CLAUS
Generations of families have visited Lord & Taylor in Westfield for 18 years to have their pictures taken with Santa Tom and Mrs. Claus, as played by Tom Pearson, of Whiting, and Joan Potts, of Ocean Gate. Tom Pearson has appeared as Santa in television commercials and on the former "Late Show With David Letterman."
But what's most rewarding, he says, are the many generations who have shown up over the past 18 years to see him and Joan Potts play Santa and Mrs. Claus at Lord & Taylor in Westfield.
"There's one man from Fanwood. He has the whole family album, with every one of his children," says Pearson, 68, a father and grandfather who lives in Whiting. "The boys are now in college and they still come every year."
"Last year (2014), a man brought in 10 years' worth of pictures of us at Lord & Taylor," says Potts, 69, an Ocean Gate resident, who has three children and four grandchildren.
The pair use a Hollywood costume designer and have 11 outfits between them. "I have three," Potts says. "When we do a house party, with a pool in July, I have a cotton skirt with a vest."
"I have a couple of different red bathing suits and I wear my Santa hat," Pearson says.
He also has a sequined Santa suit, along with the more traditional outfit. Potts paid $900 for one dress and cape; Pearson's most expensive suit cost about $3,000.
Stopped on the street by excited -- sometimes skeptical -- children, the bearded Pearson chooses to neither confirm nor deny Santa's existence.
"I just say to them, 'Well, you never know. Are you being good?' And I wink. That's where I leave it."
FATHER CHRISTMAS
For more than 25 years, Ron Lomerson has been portraying Father Christmas during Clinton's Dickens Days. The Lebanon Township resident dons his hooded burgundy velveteen robe and carries a greens-covered staff as he greets passersby on the town's streets. Already incredibly charming at the holidays, the quaint town of Clinton is made more so by the appearance of Father Christmas, a striking figure in his hooded, burgundy velveteen robe and carefully coiffed hair.
"I have a real beard. My hair is very long and tied up in the back," says Ron Lomerson, 58, a retired state employee who lives with his wife in Lebanon. "There's a lady in Clinton who bleaches my hair, beard and mustache every year, as white as you can get it. Then, my hair gets curled and the curls hang down in front."
Lomerson began his Santa career in the traditional fashion nearly 30 years ago. At that time, he weighed about 400 pounds and couldn't find a modern Santa suit that would fit him. So his wife draped him with velveteen and fake fur and -- without a sewing pattern -- created the English-style costume that makes him so distinguishable today.
Now more than 100 pounds lighter, Father Christmas dons his original suit each year ("My wife is thinking it's time to retire that one and make a new one"), lending an ear to children eager to whisper Christmas wishes.
"They don't want the pony anymore. They don't want the little race car. They want the computerized stuff now," says Lomerson, a mainstay of Clinton's annual Dickens Days during the weekend after Thanksgiving. "But they're still excited. There's still the anticipation. It's what makes it worthwhile."
Still, he says he's had some tough requests, including "Can you get my mom and dad back together?"
"Things like that really tug at the heartstrings," says Lomerson, who tells the child that there are wishes that Santa can't grant. "Some things can't be wrapped up in a box with a bow."
SANTA TOM Z.
"We want to keep this alive as long as we can and in the hearts of children of all ages," says Tom Zimecki, of Edgewater Park, as he cradles one of Santa's very young fans at The New Leaf Tea Room in Riverton. Tom Zimecki started out 15 years ago as a relief Santa, substituting in shopping malls from South to Central Jersey when a scheduled Santa called out sick. He says he soon decided against the long hours and sometimes backbreaking work of a mall Santa.
Now, Zimecki does home visits, school fundraisers and charitable gatherings. His resume of advertisements, events and appearances reads like a corporate who's who: Microsoft, Kmart, MasterCard, Tourneau, Clorox, Southwest Airlines and the Philadelphia Phillies, to name a few. He's been on "Fox & Friends" every Christmas morning for the past five years and he's joined Elmo and friends on the streets of Sesame Place, the theme park in Langhorne, Pa.
"When I see someone and their eyes light up, no matter what age, I just smile back and give them a wink, and I'm fulfilled," says the 63-year-old Edgewater Park resident, who is married and has three children and two grandchildren.
Zimecki has about nine custom-made Santa suits, some costing up to $1,000. He also has Santa outfits for golf, baseball and working as a chef (for baking cookies, of course).
"And I have my summer outfits," he says. "I have sneakers that are green and say 'Santa' on the side of them. I've got the Santa shirts with Santa surfing or on a jet ski."
He's a year shy of retirement from his job with the Burlington County Board of Social Services, when he plans to devote himself to being Kris Kringle full time.
"It's a smile and a twinkle," he says, when asked what makes a great Santa. "When you take on the role and you are going to portray him, there are some things you take upon yourself."
Like never smoking or drinking, or leaving the house upset.
"For all of us who dress up in the red suit, we want to keep this alive as long as we can and in the hearts of the children of all ages."
SCUBA SANTA DAVE
"Santa should look the same, dive after dive. We don't want to break any child's illusion or that magical moment," says Dave DeBoer, a dive safety officer at Advenutre Aquarium in Camden. DeBoer and other volunteers wear custom-made neoprene wet suits when they appear as Scuba Santa in the aquarium's 760,000-gallon fish tank. Imagine diving into 760,000 gallons of seawater filled with sharks, stingrays and lots of fish. Now... imagine doing so in a neoprene Santa suit, wearing a costume beard and a red Santa cap.
"In the beginning, we'd jump in the water, the hat would pop off and we'd have to hold it as we were doing a show," says David DeBoer, who first portrayed Scuba Santa 15 years ago at Adventure Aquarium in Camden. "Or our beard would be covering our face. It got pretty hairy for a while, no pun intended."
While he does not have a real beard, the 50-year-old DeBoer says he and other divers who have appeared as Scuba Santa take the job seriously, donning the same costume each time.
"We want to keep the consistent look of Santa for every dive, in case a kid visits a second time," says the Long Branch resident, now a dive safety officer at the aquarium. "Santa should look the same, dive after dive. We don't want to break any child's illusion or that magical moment."
Scuba Santa takes an elf (also dressed in a custom-made neoprene wet suit) with him into the huge fish tank. Volunteers take turns being Scuba Santa, sometimes diving five and six times a day during the holiday season.
While most of the animals tend to keep their distance, a few are a bit curious about the red-flippered oddity with the snow-white beard. "The turtles are always a little inquisitive about anything that's new," says DeBoer, a married father of three.
SANTA RAY
Ray Beesley, of Paterson, adjusts his furry hat as he prepares to meet children in the "Christmas Ice Caverns" at Jody's Silk Florist and Patio Center in Fairfield. Ray Beesley's website (northjerseysanta.com) tells devotees which days he'll be wearing his traditional red garb -- as opposed to his distinctive Victorian Santa suit -- at the "Christmas Ice Caverns," at Jody's Silk Florist and Patio Center in Fairfield.
But it's his white Santa suit that may grab the most attention. The 65-year-old Paterson resident dons it for Christmas-in-July weddings, which he is paid to attend. He marked his seventh wedding as Santa in as many years in 2015.
At one nuptial service several years ago, guests received a small wrapped present as they entered the church. Each was told not to open or shake it until after the vows had been declared.
"After the couple had their kiss, and before they walked back down the aisle, I walked up in my white Santa outfit," says the married father of six children and five grandchildren. "I came up the center aisle. People were amazed. Inside those white little packages were silver bells. They all started ringing their bells. The farther I got up the aisle, the louder the bells got."
When Beesley was younger, he used his mother's shoe polish to whiten his beard. (She was a nurse.) Now, he says he's gray enough to pull it off without bleach or shoe polish.
Beesley says the benefit of playing St. Nick is immeasurable. "I get joy," he says simply. "I'm so lucky."
SANTA JOHN AND MRS. CLAUS
"Because it's a real beard, in their hearts, (kids) feel that this is really Santa," says John Wenner, of Woodbury Heights, who has played Santa for 10 years. Here, he shares a moment with Harrison Knoch, of Princeton, at Kuser Farm Mansion in Hamilton. John Wenner asks that his interview be held at 1300 hours on a given day, a tip-off that this particular Santa was a career military man. The now-retired Wenner spent four years in the U.S. Navy and 40 more years at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, its naval shipyard and elsewhere.
Not surprisingly, his first gig as Santa was at the Fort Dix tree lighting ceremony 10 years ago. Since then, Wenner, 66, and his wife, Shirley, as Mrs. Claus are in much demand at private parties and events.
"Generally, if someone asks for a Mrs. Claus, they have a specific role for her, either to tell stories or to give out gifts," says Shirley Wenner, 64. "I'm a retired schoolteacher, so I tend to talk to the children about their favorite books or things they like to do at school."
The couple has four children and three young grandchildren, and they live in Woodbury Heights.
Wenner's tailor, who lives in Michigan, created a "traditional Coca-Cola Santa suit" for him and a lighter jacket for when Santa is stuck inside for long periods of time. Like some of the other Santas, Wenner's beard is real.
"I don't bleach it," he says. "To me, a pure white beard doesn't portray Santa as I would see him.
"The kids look at the beard and they don't care if it's pure white or not. It's real to them. They can touch it, pull on it and it doesn't come off. Because it's a real beard, in their hearts, they feel that this is really Santa."
SANTA CHESTER
Chester Davis, of Manalapan, says playing Santa allows him to enjoy "creating memories for children to last a lifetime." "If I told you I was Santa Claus all my life, you'd never believe me," says Chester Davis. "But it's more than what is on the outside with the red suit. It's what's inside and what you do."
The married grandfather of four from Manalapan has a "toy workshop" outfit (knee-length britches, red-striped socks, fur-lined Crocs), a Western suit (red overalls and a Stetson), an Old World robe (lush and long) and casual summer St. Nick wear, among other costumes. He has his beard bleached each December and uses special hair-care products to keep it soft.
Davis' list of credits include commercials for AT&T and Samsung, and Skype sessions with children in Liverpool, England. He has a piano-playing elf. ("Matter of fact, I have three of those.")
He went on a cruise to the Caribbean with 20 other Santas in March 2015. And he's an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church, which offers online ordination.
"I married somebody ... in a zoo," says Davis, 62. "It was a pirate wedding. I had my Capuchin monk's robe on."
Davis says he has carried the Christmas spirit within since he was young. Now, he enjoys "creating memories for children to last a lifetime."
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