GRANT COUNTY — Grant County’s Santa Claus is hanging up his suit and retiring from public life following his slate of appearances for the 2022 holiday season. Santa’s final appearance was Dec. 15.

The gentleman who appears throughout the county as Santa is an 84-year-old man who has asked only to be identified as H. H has asked to have his identity concealed due to the fact that there are still people in the county who don’t know that he is Santa despite his long-running role as the jolly man in the red suit.

“Guess what? A lot of people haven’t figured it out,” he said. “There are still a lot of people, including adults, who don’t know who I am.”

H said he can’t remember how long he’s been Santa.

“I cannot tell you. It’s been so many years that I’ve forgotten when I started,” he said.

H made appearances throughout Grant County as Santa, as well as participating in Zoom sessions in the role throughout the Pacific Northwest and in Mississippi. The Zoom calls started in 2000, according to H, well before the COVID-19 pandemic drove everything into the virtual space for a time.

As you can imagine, H has had some unique and at times heartbreaking gift requests from kids during his time as Santa.

“This year, the first time I’ve ever, ever had a kid ask this, he asked me to bring him a new dad,” H said.

Another memorable event during his time as Santa involved participating in a video call with a child and his mother, who was deployed overseas.

“She got to hear him tell me what he wanted. I think that’s one of the coolest things I’ve had happen,” H said.

Heartbreaking and unique gift requests aside, the thing H said he is going to miss the most about being Santa is the kids.

“It’s going to be kind of hard,” he said. “I’ve got kids sitting on my lap that their mom and dad also did. I’ve watched kids grow up.”

It’s not only kids who come to visit Santa. Some people bring their pets to have photos taken with him. H has taken pictures with everything from cats and dogs to donkeys, chickens and snakes during pet photo time with Santa.

A few years ago, H took photos with so many pets during an event at the Grant County Fairgrounds that the session ruined his Santa suit.

“There were some people in the county, they decided I needed a new Santa suit. So they raised right at $400 to go toward paying for a new Santa Suit,” H said.

Five years ago, Santa finally got a Mrs. Claus to make appearances with him throughout the county. The role of Mrs. Claus has been filled by a Prairie City resident who will continue in her role as Mrs. Claus following H’s retirement as Santa.

H said he plans on donating his Santa suit to the Grant County Chamber of Commerce.

“Tammy (Bremner) is going to check it out and make sure that it gets back in good shape. She knows how fussy I am with it,” he said.

H said his plans following his retirement as Santa are to hit the road in the fifth-wheel trailer he and his wife recently purchased after selling their home in the county. The couple have no particular destination in mind when they set out, only saying that they’re “starting a new adventure.”

H said he wants the public to know that he’s never had second thoughts about being Santa for Grant County in all the years he’s filled the role.

“I’ve never, ever felt like I didn’t want to do it,” he said.