Photograph by Dina Litovsky
Premium
A Stunning Share of Santas Say: Yes, the Beard Is Real
And so is the bowl-full-of-jelly belly, according to survey responses from a sleighful of Santa impersonators.
ByPatricia Edmonds
This story appears in the December 2016 issue of National Geographic magazine.
Take “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” multiply it by several hundred, and you’ve got what’s billed as the World’s Largest Santa Convention, held this past July in Branson, Missouri. At the five-day trade show, Kris Kringle impersonators attended workshops on makeup and marketing, beard care and Santa ethics. More than 550 Santas answered a survey about playing the jolly old elf. Here are some of the results.
Graphics: Oscar Santamarina, NGM STAFF
