Moonlighting for Santas

By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Santa was working the crowd.
Giving his wide black belt a tug, he waved a gloved hand at a pair of 20-something male shoppers. They waved back sheepishly.
A snowy-haired couple strolled by, pausing to smile a silent greeting, and a young mother tugged at her toddler's hand to coax him up on the red-suited lap.
It was a brief lull in an otherwise-busy afternoon for Mike Markovich, one of four men playing the part of Santa at the Southern Park Mall this season.
John Young stood by watching, looking a little like an off-duty Santa himself with his close-cropped white beard and blue eyes. He's been managing Santas at the Boardman mall for 20 years, but he's still intrigued by the way people of all ages respond to the man in red.
Young is principal of Liberty High School, but he got involved with managing Santas through his home-based photography business. The mall hired him first to take photos of children visiting Santa Claus, later contracting with him to run the annual Christmas attraction.
He also owns kiddie train concessions at Southern Park and the Eastwood Mall in Niles and runs the Easter Bunny attraction at the Boardman mall in the spring. He managed the Santas at the Summit Mall in Akron and the Century III Mall in Pittsburgh for several years as well.
A father of five, Young jokes that he needs the extra work to help pay for college and other expenses. He likes to point out, however, that visiting Santa is still free, and only about half the children's parents buy photographs.
Useful lessons
Years of experience have taught the Poland resident some useful lessons about children and Santa.
If you want to take a baby's photo with Santa, for example, Young advises backing the child onto his lap and snapping the shot quickly.
"There's a technique to it," he said, grinning. "Can you imagine how scary Santa looks to a baby when you zoom in on him?" he said, grinning.
He instructs his Santas never to promise a child anything and to try not to rush them along. "I don't care if the line is out the door," he said. "I tell them to visit first and do the photo later."
In two decades, Young said he's only had to hire about 10 Santas to staff the Southern Park Mall. Many have come back year after year, and one 12-year veteran even wrote a book about his experiences. He never advertises except by word of mouth.
"It takes a special kind of person," Young said. "It's hot in that costume; you have to deal with screaming kids. It can be tiring."
Staffing Santas
Markovich is new to the mall this year, but Young considers him one of his best discoveries.
A Boardman resident, Markovich is a therapeutic program worker at the Youngstown Development Center in Mineral Ridge, where he works with adults with mental disabilities. Before taking the mall job, he played Santa at parties and church events.
Young said his worst staffing experience was several years ago when his Santa at the Akron mall was a no-show. Heavy snow complicated the situation, and he couldn't find a replacement.
"I finally got in touch with a guy plowing snow at the mall and offered to pay him double to play Santa," he recalled. "He did it, and I heard he did a pretty good job."
The mall has "belly booster" padding for Santas who need a little plumping, as well as costumes in several sizes, wire glasses and whitener for dark eyebrows. Surprisingly, Young said many of his Santas have had their own white beards.
Young meets hundreds of parents and children around Santa's chair every season, but a comment he heard several years ago stuck with him.
"A young mother told me her son had been to other Santas, but he knew that the 'real' Santa was at the mall," he said. "Now that's a lot of pressure."
vinarsky@vindy.com