Adelaide Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor in talks to keep Big Santa in the city during Christmas

Adelaide’s beloved holiday icon could be set to grace more festive season celebrations after some high-powered intervention to try to keep him in the city.

Big Santa’s last public appearance on the Federal Hall at the Adelaide Central Market. Picture: Supplied

Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor has intervened to ensure Big Santa escapes the fate which claimed his lookalike in New Zealand.

Ms Verschoor spent most of Thursday working to find ways to keep Adelaide’s 15m-tall, three-tonne fibreglass and steel structure on public display within the CBD.

The 50-year-old iconic figure’s future has been uncertain since an attempt by Adelaide City Council to gift it to the History Trust of SA was rejected because of its deteriorating condition.

Ms Verschoor said an appeal by The Advertiser on Thursday to save Big Santa had generated a strong response from the public.

“It’s wonderful to see how many people have responded to the Big Santa shout out,” she said.

Big Santa at his original home on John Martin’s in Rundle Mall

Adelaide Mayor Sandy Verschoor. Picture: Matt Loxton

“It’s clear that there is overwhelming community support to see Big Santa return and council is looking into options to retain this much loved icon for South Australians.”

Ms Verschoor said she could not go into details of Santa’s possible new future as discussions were ongoing.

There has been mounting speculation Big Santa could be heading to the scrap heap unless he gets a new owner prepared to spend the money restoring him to his former glory, erecting him on a building for a couple of months and then keeping him locked up in a shed.

Such circumstances faced Big Santa’s Kiwi cousin, which was sent to landfill last year after gracing the Auckland store of the country’s biggest department chain, Farmers, for six decades.

The giant red-suited figure – which featured a winking right eye and a beckoning index finger – was a national icon once dubbed the world’s creepiest ornament by an American website.

The five-tonne giant’s fate was sealed in 2019 when Auckland Council was told the total bill for repairs, annual installation and storage would exceed $200,000.

Adelaide’s Big Santa has similar issues, with at least $34,000 needed for much-needed repairs and $90,000 a year for his public appearances and storage.

Among those who have expressed interest in taking on Big Santa has been West Torrens Council, which mounts the annual Christmas display on the banks of the River Torrens beside the West End Brewery.

Mayor Michael Coxon said the council’s administration had expressed its interest to management at the Adelaide City Council.

A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES

The estimated repair bill of $34,000 for Big Santa is a drop in the bucket for Adelaide City Council. With an annual budget of $260m, the council regularly spends similar amounts – and much more – on individual projects across the city and North Adelaide.

Recent examples include $60,000 on the reintroduction of Adelaide Flower Day, $60,000 on a pedestrian crossing for a North Adelaide childcare centre and $140,000 on an art installation outside the Adelaide Central Market. Some bigger ticket items over the past couple of years have been the $4m upgrade of Moonta St in Chinatown, $3m on new footpaths and traffic controls around Whitmore Square and $3m on a new city skate park. Then there was the $17m upgrade of Gawler Place, a project initially expected to cost $7.85m.

The biggest expense with Big Santa is the annual cost of putting it on the side of a building – and paying for the shed where it is stored. This works out around $90,000 a year.

In terms of what condition he is in, Big Santa’s fibreglass needs to be replaced, there is extensive repainting required and rust is throughout the structure. One option being examined is starting again and building a new Big Santa from scratch but would cost several hundred thousand dollars.

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