Santa's Village bids adieu
• Longtime landmark: Park being prepared for auction; employee recalls its glory days
The empty Dragon Coaster circled the curvy track. It was the only movement in the abandoned amusement park on a dreary day.
"There is a feeling of emptiness here," Santa's Village park administrator Phillip Wenz said. "There are times you are here early in the morning and it's like there are ghosts here."
The ghosts, of course, are figurative. The emptiness is real.
PHOTOS BY SCOTT M. BORT / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
"This park was on par with Disneyland. This was a wonderland," Wenz said.
These are sad times for the man who played Santa Claus for 20 years, who now is readying the park for its final public event: Wednesday's auction.
Norton Auctioneers of Michigan is auctioning off 23 rides, along with miscellaneous items. The court-ordered auction will satisfy a $170,000-plus debt North Pole Corp. owes its landlord, Sterling Bay, based in Chicago.
Norton's specializes in amusement park auctions, "selling the unusual, the unique & extraordinary," according to its brochure. The company held an auction last week selling animals and rides from the world-famous Catskill Game Farm and Amusement Park in New York.
The auctioneers arrive in East Dundee this week. Prospective buyers can inspect the lots from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday. The actual auction begins at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. The public is welcome. Admission is $10.
Wenz is the only employee, aside from Matt Hohe, who remains. Hohe worked in the maintenance department for many years. A third person, Tom Pool, helps with security. The three spent last week cleaning up and testing the rides.
For Wenz, it was the proverbial walk down memory lane. Every time he walks around the park, he recalls a new tidbit about its history or a happy memory.
Wenz is the official historian. He figured since he played Santa, he should know the history.
A question Wenz often hears is why Santa's Village was built in East Dundee. The reason: its proximity to Interstate 90 and the area's resemblance to northern California, where the original Santa's Village was built, he said.
Plus, Chicago actually was the cradle of amusement parks, according to Wenz. The Ferris wheel was unveiled at the 1893 World's Fair and the area was home to numerous mom-and-pop parks, he said. There also were larger parks like Chicago's Riverview Park, and Kiddieland Amusement Park, in Melrose Park. The first amusement park, Santa's Candy Castle, opened in the Midwest in 1935. It is located in Santa Claus, Ind.
As Wenz walked past Arrow Antique cars -- the six cars with the track will be auctioned off, too -- he stopped suddenly. He pointed out toward the nearby woods, at a huge buck with tall antlers.
"He's got a red nose," Wenz joked, informing his co-workers of the buck through his Nextel.
A 1965 expansion introduced the antique cars, along with the Polar Dome and the Peppermint Slide, to the park. Later, rides and attractions from the defunct Adventureland Park in Addison were brought to Santa's Village. They included the Snowball ride and the firetruck ride, where children and parents could put out a fire, and the huge snowmen that stand, ready to greet visitors at the park's entrance.
Wenz turned the corner, walking past Santa's House and the Snowball ride. Neither Santa's House nor the 15 other original buildings will be auctioned off. The only assets are rides, games and merchandise, he said.
Norton's brochure, available at www.nortonauctioneers.com, lists every item for sale. Among those items are a merry-go-round with 56 aluminum horses and animals, Zamperala balloon race, bumper cars, a tilt-a-whirl, 18 digital Skee Ball alleys, a Racing Rapids tube ride and the three familiar, 12-foot tall snowmen.
A majority of the items for sale are large, like the rides. Wenz already has cleared out the items he owns from Santa's house. He has collected lots of memorabilia during his career. Those belongings include the "golden key" that ceremoniously unlocked Santa's house. The key is one of three that once unlocked the gates at the three Santa's Villages on opening day. Every year, Mr. and Mrs. Claus would arrive in a sleigh pulled by reindeer to herald a new season at the amusement parks.
"Somehow, all the keys have come to me," said Wenz. "It's like passing the torch."
He has been careful about preserving those items.
"I am protective of everything," Wenz said. "I want to keep everything intact. The integrity of the park is important to me."
As he strolled into the gift shop, he explained how the auction will work. It is open to the public and anyone is welcome to bid. But no one will be allowed to roam around the park, he said.
"Some of this will end up on eBay," he said, holding up a purple plastic bag with Three Worlds of Santa's Village logo. That was the amusement park's name before it changed back to Santa's Village again in the 1980s. He already saw someone claiming to have the last photo of Santa taken in Santa's house. Wenz informed the seller it was not the last photo. The item later was pulled from the site.
Wenz said the park meant a lot to a lot of people, including him.
"There is a part of me that doesn't want to let it go," he said. "There is another part of me that feels I've been fortunate to be here."
