Auckland's 'Iconic' Santa

For 30 years we had the enjoyable job of setting up Auckland’s iconic giant Santa for Christmas. The five-tonne, 18-metre fibreglass-and-steel figure — complete with winking eye and beckoning finger — was a city landmark from 1960 until his retirement in 2020.

Santa first went up on the Farmers building at Hobson and Wyndham Streets in 1960. When that building sold in 1990 he moved to Manukau, gracing the Farmers there until being retired in 1996 looking rather tatty.

After years of neglect and two years of negotiation, Santa was purchased from Farmers in 1998, and favours were called in from friends and businesses to restore him and return him to Auckland. He took a new stage on the Whitcoulls building at Queen and Victoria — which later became Farmers again, a neat piece of historical symmetry. A 2009 restoration gave him a friendlier look, swapping the “creepy” beckoning finger for a static one.

After nearly six decades, the giant Santa was finally retired in January 2020. We’re proud to have worked on him for so many years — he’s surely missed.