Texarkana’s Own Santa Claus
by Ellen Orr
The end of the calendar year inspires both a return to childhood wonder and reflection on adult goals and plans. As we marvel at the Christmas lights, we take stock of our new year’s resolutions and envision a more “productive” or “successful” upcoming year. Though we try to drink in the magic of the season, for most of us, the magic – the joy, the generosity – is fleeting. Few adults have access to the wisdom of children. Mark Reed is one of the few.
This is Mark’s 25th Christmas season portraying Santa Claus. Now an established Santa, he has worked throughout the Four States area: Texarkana, Shreveport, Little Rock, Northwest Arkansas, Oklahoma City, and all over East Texas. He’s worked corporate gigs for Coca-Cola, Hershey’s, Sam’s Club, and others. He even toured Texas with musician Lindsey Stirling of “Dancing with the Stars” fame. In 2019, he made 126 appearances in the red suit.
His first year, however, he only made one appearance.
“Our oldest son, Dustin, was in his first year at Ms. Bobbie’s Pre-School,” Mark said. “Ms. Bobbie [Bramlett] told me that they always got one of the dads to be Santa each year for their Christmas party pictures, and she thought that I’d be good at it. I guess you could say that I got roped into it.”
Mark was intoxicated by the magic he saw reflected in the eyes of the children, although his own son wasn’t entirely convinced – “Santa sounded a lot like Daddy,” Dustin later told his mother, Wendy.
“My wife told me that I needed to work on disguising my voice for next year,” Mark said. “At the time, I had no idea if I ever would be asked to do it again.”
Over the next quarter-century, Mark would go way beyond voice work in order to improve the Santa experience for the children he served.
“I realized very early that the more authentic and professional you are in portraying Santa, the more magical it is for everyone involved,” Mark said. “I became somewhat obsessed with learning everything I could and finding resources for being a better Santa.”
Mark has attended two Santa Conventions and four Santa Schools. He is a member of one international organization and four regional organizations, one of which he founded; these allow Santas “to share ideas to improve our interactions with children,” Mark said. The person Mark himself has learned most from is his mentor, David Pope.
“David shared a lot from his decades of being the main Santa in Texarkana,” Mark said.
Mark reports that he has invested over $15,000 in Santa products, including suits, boots, belts, and even a sleigh. This figure doesn’t include the haircare-related expenses.
“Though I’m getting closer each year, I’m not naturally white-headed, so I have to get my hair, beard and eyebrows bleached throughout the season,” Mark said. “There are many Santas that wear theatrical beards and wigs – I did for my first ten years – but photographers prefer real-bearded Santas. I have more hair care products than my wife and teenage daughter combined.”
Though Santa brings joy to people of all ages, Mark is particularly driven to illuminate the lives of children, regardless of background or life circumstance. Every year, he brushes up on his conversational and Christmas-related Spanish and American Sign Language, to ensure he can communicate with as many children as possible. On Christmas Day, he always visits the Arkansas Children’s Hospital to bring cheer to the patients.
The hardest part of being Santa, an inherently fleeting role, is becoming a short-term confidant to so many children.
“One thing I learned early on is that children often confide in Santa things they haven’t shared with anyone else,” Mark said. “Sadly, Santa sometimes finds out from children that there are still bad people in our world. I’ve been fortunate to visit with some incredibly brave children over the years. Being able to give them a brief moment of Christmas magic and to brighten their day is something you never forget.”
Mark acknowledges that this year in particular will be challenging for many families, as COVID and related economic hardship continue to sweep the globe. He wants to assure children, however, that Santa’s travels will not spread the virus.
“At the North Pole, we haven’t been affected due to precautions taken during Christmas 2019,” he said. “COVID-19 was in some parts of the world last Christmas, so upon returning to the North Pole, Santa and the reindeer immediately went into quarantine This is a precaution we do every year anyway. We have a closed environment at the North Pole, so nothing comes in from the rest of the world, other than children’s Christmas wish lists. We have had an extensive decontamination process in the North Pole Post Office in place due to previous outbreaks through the years. As for delivering presents, children can rest assured that Santa will be delivering presents safely to them.”
For 29 years, Mark worked at the Federal Correctional Institution and only retired in 2016. Unsurprisingly, that was not his childhood dream job.
“When I was in second grade,” Mark said, “the teacher asked the students to draw a picture of what they wanted to be when they grew up and why. There were astronauts, firemen, doctors, nurses, teachers, professional athletes, and policemen. Not me – I drew a picture of Santa Claus. The teacher asked me why I wanted to be Santa Claus. I said because Santa makes everyone happy. I guess it took me a while to remember what I wanted to be when I grew up.”
