EUROA’S Mick Williams has retired from his volunteer role as the region’s most beloved and ubiquitous Santa, which he said he had performed for over 40 years.
Mr Williams’ journey in the red suit began one night at the Euroa “Middle” Hotel, possibly in the late 1970s or early 1980s, according to legend.
He was found there by his good friend, the late Mick Peel, who was in a tight spot.
“They'd arranged a Christmas break-up; they always had it at the ambulance station,” Mr Williams remembered.
“And he said, ‘we're really stuck because we’ve got everything but Santa’.
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“So, I went there, and I did it.
“I made the biggest blow I ever made the first night I ever done it, because I promised a kid that he was going to get a trampoline and he never got it.
“And he was so disappointed for the whole of the weekend.
“I learnt by that mistake, so after all those years I never promised anything, unless I knew that they were definitely going to get something.”
Kelvin View’s Di Mackrell saw this in action at Kelvin View’s annual Christmas Tree event, which she said Mr Williams had attended since the 1980s.
“Every child, if they wish to, will sit on his knee and he asks them what they want for Christmas, but he never promised them that he'll bring it,” she said.
“He'll say things like, ‘Oh, I've had a lot of orders for those this year, we'll see what we can do.’”
Kelvin View, near Strathbogie, was just one of the Santa’s regular engagements.
Never accepting payment, he attended houses and Christmas events across the shire.
In Euroa, he attended the Carols by Candlelight, the hospital and aged care centre, posed for pictures with customers at the chemist, and could sometimes be seen on Binney Street travelling by horse and carriage.
He timed appearances at Violet Town Market many years ago with a skydiver in a Santa suit.
“I was in the van already dressed; I'd come out and everybody thought it was me that'd come down in the parachute,” Mr Williams said.
The former road grader served as Santa while also serving as a councillor and mayor for many years.
Mr Williams said he did it for the community and because he liked bringing joy to the children and their parents.
The most difficult part, he said, had been attending the Amaroo aged care centre and hospital in Euroa.
“There were quite a few people I knew [at Amaroo], and… I'd tell them, but they never had a clue who I was,” he remembered.
“Dear old Mrs Walters, she was 102 or 103, and I walked in there and she said, ‘isn't it lovely to see Father Christmas?’
“It might sound silly, but I think it turned the clock back for a lot of people.
“And I'd go into the hospital and, because they weren't able to go home for Christmas, they'd start to cry and I'd try and console them and have a chat with them.
“It was difficult… I used to go home very disappointed.”
The 83-year-old said at his age, the time was right for him to retire, especially because scaling firetrucks had become increasingly difficult.
Mr Williams’ daughter, Michelle Andrews, said: “He's certainly going to be missed… he’s had lots of calls already, people wanting to book him, of course.”
“I think he enjoyed the kids' faces more than anything, and how much the kids got out of it,” she said.
Ms Andrews, who was 15 when her father began his December duties, recalled how the community had helped him.
She said the local drycleaners, before closing down, had cleaned her dad’s Santa suit free of charge.
The CFA and Burtons IGA donated a good portion of lollies for him to distribute.
Euroa CFA and other local fire brigades were an enormous help, transporting him by firetruck to many of his engagements.
Euroa Chamber of Commerce president Steph Swift said Mr Williams had been “very generous with his time” in attending Euroa’s twilight street party in recent years.
She still remembers Mr Williams as her childhood Santa.
“I think that's what makes it so much more special for a lot of people who have either moved home or who have lived here their whole lives; the fact that he was our Santa, too,” Ms Swift said.
“Our children have had the opportunity to get a photo with a Santa that their parents also got a photo with.
“We will obviously miss him, but we absolutely understand, and we would just take the opportunity to thank him for providing so much of his time to us and to the events and community across all these years.”
REAL SANTA HASN’T RETIRED
Young readers of this masthead need not be alarmed.
Mick Williams is not the “real” Santa, who will never retire, as our adult readers no doubt already know.
“Santa always rang me and asked me would I help him out to bring the presents for the children at Christmas,” Mr Williams explained.
