Santa spotted at summer retreat

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-23  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A musical Santa Claus outfit plays a Christmas tune at an amusement park in Copenhagen, Denmark, where his counterparts from around the world are gathering for their annual three-day congress. More in photo gallery

---

THE tree is decorated, the bells are jingling and the jolly elves are hard at work.

It's the annual World Santa Claus Congress, filling a Danish amusement park with Christmas merriment in the middle of summer for the 52nd consecutive year.

Five months ahead of the holidays, nearly 140 St Nicks, mostly from Scandinavia but also from as far away as Russia, Japan and the United States, kicked off their three-day convention on Monday at Bakken Park, north of Copenhagen.

Visitors lined up to watch the Santas, Mrs Clauses and their little helpers parade through the park, bellowing ho-ho-hos and singing Christmas carols. The activities on the program included a bicycle parade and a brief swim in Copenhagen harbor.

One of Monday's highlights was an obstacle course in which some Santas raced past a sleigh and up a small hill built of ice before climbing down a fake chimney.

Later this week, the Santas plan to visit children in hospital and hold tongue-in-cheek seminars about the 21st century challenges facing their vocation.

"We have real modern-time problems we need to discuss with our colleagues," said Fred Rootveld, a Dutch Santa. "How do we get into people's homes when there are no chimneys on the houses to climb down in?"