Does Santa Work at Silverwood?
If anyone should be considered the “face” of Silverwood it’s Wesley who works at the Front Gate. With his locks of white hair and long beard, he’s Santa’s doppelganger. Even at 83 years of age, he’s super friendly, has a great work ethic and is driven by the need to make everyone’s day just a bit better. He’s been a fixture here for seven years now and people love him. Well, most people. (More on that below.)
I got a chance to meet with Wesley during a recent visit to the park and the encounter was inspiring. He’s a modest man who would rather talk about others than himself.
“For me it’s been an honor and a pleasure to be a part of the Silverwood family because they promote the old school values of Americana – politeness, treating each other with dignity and respect, that sort of thing,” he tells me.
Honestly, he gushed on and on about the place for quite a while. Wesley has been familiar with the park since day one. Literally. His first visit to the park was on the first day that the park opened back on June 20, 1988. It looked a lot different back then with only a handful of rides and the Henley Aerodrome putting on air shows. That latter part might have been what drew him to the park as he served in the Air Force. He still has his private and commercial licenses.
Wesley is full of other surprises too. He speaks 13 different languages and might even be learning more! He loves his country and is very patriotic. Every morning when he comes in to work, he turns and salutes the American flag. He does the same thing when he leaves as well.
“The flag represents those who appreciate America and it represents the ones that do not because a lot of people paid the supreme sacrifice. I’m sort of old school Americana on things.”
“He’s a godly man. He’ll water the weeds because God made them and everybody deserves to live,” says Linsie, the Front Gate Manager. She tells me that she “inherited” Wesley when she switched departments four years ago.
“He has a really great sense of humor. His personality is very magnetic. He draws people to him. They will wait in line just to see him and he treats everybody like they are royalty or as a VIP. We try to have competitions where we have the younger employees try to steal the guests away from him, because he’s always calling people over. He likes the competition.”
One of those employees is Aleah.
“I’ve known Wesley since I started here about six seasons ago,” says Aleah. “I was 16 then. We ended up working side-by-side together. He’s a very joyful man. Always happy. Always ready to work. He’s got a lot of cool stories to share too.”
“He opens up the gate for us and other cast members just to welcome us in … even though we work here … every time that he sees us,” says Linsie. He’ll get upset if I don’t come through his gate.”
Wesley takes his job seriously and he says that his favorite park of the job is working with the public. He actually seeks out difficult of seemingly unhappy people.
“I only have maybe 30 seconds to deal with all these people coming in, but if I can get them to relax, then that’s a challenge to me,” says Wesley. “I like to get people smiling so they can have a pleasant because when they come in. And when they leave, we tell them ‘Thank you. Have a good night. Drive home safe.’ Stuff like that.”
He says that some of his inspiration comes from Mother Teresa.
“One of her viewpoints was, when a person comes to you and you talk to them, they should leave in a better manner than when they approached you.”
He went on to explain how that pertains to his job.
“Occasionally you’ll see somebody coming in and you’ll see that they’re down. They’re having a difficult time. Sometimes a kind word or a little bit of cheerfulness that you share with them can make all of the difference. I can see that it kinda lifts them up a little bit.”
His good deeds don’t go unnoticed.
Not only does Wesley look like Santa Claus, his birthday is actually December 25th! A lot of kids who come through his line call him Santa and he plays up the part. When he finds out that it’s somebody’s birthday, he’ll give them a candy cane or he’ll stop and sing the birthday song to them. Wesley is also known to take off his name badge and give it to other young Wesleys in the crowd. He will often take his picture with these Wesleys and their parents will post the pictures on social media. And during the winter months, he’ll dress up like Santa and visit retirement homes.
“I like to try to be a goodwill ambassador for Silverwood, says Wesley. “I do the best that I can and the Lord will have to do the rest.”
Sadly, not everybody is a fan of this man. I asked Wesley if he had any great stories to share. This is what he told me:
“There was a wife and family that were having some tension. When they came through [my line] I said, ‘Have a nice day ma-am’ and she turned around and said, ‘Don’t you tell me what kind of day to have!’ I told her, ‘just a recommendation! Just a recommendation!’”
Meet the Conductor…
Jeffrey Totey and his wife live in the greater Seattle area and is a freelance writer and owner of Writer of Pop Culture website which focuses on pop culture, movies, TV, theme parks and more.
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