Sitting outside for about 30 minutes with my five years old niece waiting for Santa to ride by on the fire truck got me wondering if anyone else does this. In our town East Brunswick, NJ, the fire department comes around and throws candy from the truck to everyone outside. They usually do this on the Saturday before Christmas. In high school, we used to disappear from track practice out the back of the stadium to pick up candy from the truck passing through the neighborhood. I must admit, they have stepped up the candy quantity and quality since I was Frosted niece’s age. We used to make do with a wide variety of the small Tootsie Rolls. Now they have Dots, jumbo Tootsie Rolls and even mini candy bars in addition to the small Tootsie Rolls. I was definitely a little jealous. Still, it’s a cool but really random town tradition. So are there any other dopers who get candy from a fire truck Santa? Any other random town holiday traditions?
Growing up in Tinton Falls, the fire truck Santa would come around and give out Candy Canes. This was back in the seventies.
I now live on a busy road, so if they do it in my current town, they do not on my road at least.
Sounds like a pretty cool Fire Department in East Brunswick. I use to work there in the same building as the Shop-rite warehouse.
Jim
Just what is the connection between Santa and firemen? That’s something that’s puzzled me for a number of years now.
I have no idea. Good question.
Santas and fire trucks are both red, perhaps?
The fire department in my hometown did this, too. If I had to guess it is just a neighborhood public relations thing and something that makes the fireman feel good.
I grew up in western Pennsylvania during the late 60’s and early 70’s and our local fire department used to have Santa ride on the back of the firetruck about a week or two before Christmas. I still remember all of us kids running out of the house in our pajamas and winter coats so we could wave and shout to Santa while he tossed handfuls of candy to us. It’s one of my favorite Christmas memories.
If Santa is using the municipality for his ride down Main Street, consider his other options…a police car or a garbage truck.
Fire Engine just seems to fit.
We do that in this town, too, and all the neighboring ones.
Santa needs a large, shiny, brighly lit, noisy vehicle with an open back to stand up high on. What else would work?
he comes in through the FIREplace.
In my town, the kids ride on the fire truck with Santa. The fire truck also leads the Halloween parade.
When Santa comes around we give him a canned food, and he gives us candy canes. He comes around on the firetruck, but also has a police escort.
He was tooling around our Mount Holly neighborhood last night, cruising nice and slowly, sirens blaring away at full blast.
At 9:00 at night.
Hey Kringle! Some of us already put our one-year-olds to bed! Mind canning the fricking racket already??
A long time ago, well, about a week, my hometown of McArthur, Ohio had a Christmas Parade. Santa was indeed on a fire truck, and they threw candy. It was the same night as a “Friends of the Library” dinner that my mother volunteered to cook for. Downtown was a bit ridiculous, which doesn’t really count for much, since downtown consists of one stoplight.
Brendon
We do it out of our volunteer firehouse. It’s today, as a matter of fact. We take all the equipment out, and Santa rides on the first engine. We ride all around our district, and when we see kids, we stop. Santa gives them candy canes and talks to them.
It usually takes about four or five hours, and afterwards we all go back to the firehouse and have a potluck dinner. It’s a lot of fun.
You’re very fortunate. Our health & safety watchers ban anyone throwing candy from moving vehicles during parades etc. No one’s had a kid run down by a float of vehicle in a parade here that I know of while trying to retrieve lollies off the road, but it’s banned anyway.
Sounds like you’ve got a cool tradition up there.
Large men who look great in red who, on most (good) days have nothing to do but wait, until one day it’s all rush, rush, rush to someone’s house to do their job?
I think it’s mostly a PR thing, and the firehouse guys tend to be built to wear the suit well, around here anyway. Not that they’re fat, but they’re muscular and generously proportioned. And, unlike the police officers, they don’t have their own mustaches, which makes wearing a fake beard and mustache easier.
(Due to terrible signage, I got caught in my car a couple of weeks ago at the end point of one of these Walk/Run for charity events. 100 firemen from the Chicago Fire Department’s team came rounding a corner, chanting some vaguely military chant and divided to flow around my car like a giant amoeba of testosterone. My god, what a floorshow!)
Yep, in most cases it’s a PR thing. Many volunteer companies will be doing fund drives after the first of the year and hope people will remember the Santa thing fondly and donate money.
I don’t know how it works in other parts of the country, but my firehouse is 100% volunteer. We can apply for grants, and sometimes get subsidies from the county, but we run mainly on donations from the public.
It’s not just occasionally buying fire engines, either; we have a mortgage, phone bill, electric bill, insurance, repairs, maintenance, etc. It adds up.