By Tim Ruzek A train whistle sounded in the distance in December 1926 at Austin’s east-side railyard, and most of 1,000-plus boys and girls turned their gaze to the north. Santa Claus, however, was arriving by train from the south on the Milwaukee railroad. “Perhaps it was a South Pole Santa that came this year. Perhaps he went south with the geese and is on his way back,” the Austin Daily Herald wrote Dec. 18, 1926. Arriving on time at 1:30 p.m., Santa waved a handkerchief from the platform as the train backed into the station. He was kicking off a four-day stay in Austin, with three days of appearances. “All the kids rushed to the train. A squad of police was kept busy keeping the youngsters in safe places. Then the great myth of childhood stepped down and was escorted to the chariot sleigh.” Austin Mayor E.B. Carter brought the sleigh led by white horses to meet Santa. Parents were there by the hundreds. Santa’s arrival in Austin was front page, all-caps, top-headline news. “It was a kaleidoscope mass of animated colors,” the Herald wrote. “Bright-eyed youngsters with the ruddy bloom that a near-zero weather only can put in the cheeks of youth were standing on tip toe of excitement and expectation long before Santa’s train arrived.” With a Boy Scout band playing, a parade began led by police, with Santa acknowledging all “his little admirers” along the way. Mayor Carter stood in his sleigh, with Santa beside him bowing his head rapidly. After making their way through downtown, Santa and his procession moved up Main Street, where they were greeted by about 2,000 children at Santa’s hut in Horace Austin State Park (today’s city pool area). Throngs of children circled Santa’s cabin as he went inside and reemerged with arms full of candy packages, whistles and other treats. Excitement had been building up since the Herald announced Dec. 14 that Santa was on his way to Austin. The community raised about $10,000 in today’s dollars for the Christmas celebration fund. Hundreds of pounds candy dispersed in 3,000 sacks were prepared for along the way. Prizes were given at Santa’s hut that night, including a 49-pound sack of flour to the largest family that traveled the longest distance. The mother got a house dress. A rural family of eight won. For Monday, the Crane Lumber Co. planned a drawing for a “ton of Hi-Lo coal.” Hormel donated a ham as another prize; Sanitary Milk Co. provided an ice cream brick. Four of the 10 football prizes were for the “most red-headed, freckled-faced boys” — two from the city, two from the country — as decided by Santa’s crowd. On Monday, Santa was stationed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Austin’s east side, where he gave candy, whistles and souvenir buttons to kids, who were “in a seemingly endless line.” Then there were prize drawings. Earl Rector of the Ramsey Dam area won a football; Ethel Anderson, of rural Austin, got a “big mama doll;” and “Little Regina Arens,” of Austin, won a pair of bedroom slippers, among the prize-winners. That evening, an “Old Timers” parade — a “unique and unusual procession” — started at the Armory downtown with the American Legion drum ang bugle corps leading the way. Businessmen and others prepared rigs for the parade. When the procession reached the east side, businessmen there joined and marched back to Main Street, where the community sang together. Then Santa handed out more treats at the state park. From courthouse square to the state park, the parade passed between a crowd packing both sides of Main Street. “A few tried to trick the generous-hearted old fellow and go through the line more than once but the number of children who did this were said to have been comparatively few,” the Herald wrote. In the next day’s paper, the Herald detailed the big Christmas parade. “Seldom have more people turned out, even in the summer time, than did last night for the Old Timers’ parade,” the Herald wrote, noting candy and peanuts were thrown to the crowd. The American Legion awarded boxing gloves for the winner of the “mutt dog” contest. That team of dogs consisted of Trix and Gyp, a German police dog and airdale. Dalager’s Grocery had an old-fashioned cutter sleigh in the parade and advertised its Lutefisk. Decker’s Hardware had a small sled led by a horse. Leonard Decker wore a bathrobe and panama hat. Erdman’s Garage had a 1910 Ford drawn by horses while another car was swinging rapidly from a tractor. George A. Hormel & Co. had a large truck decorated with a fireplace against the cab “but it did not afford much heat for the bevy of pretty girls surrounding it.” That night, only about a third of the children who visited Santa on Saturday had come to the state park but they represented more city children. About 300 letters were sent to Santa for a contest, with the winning letter getting $5. With Christmas Eve a few days away, the Herald wrote that Santa likely would find inside Austin homes “lunches set out for him, cigars lying on the table that are meant for him, bottles of milk set out for him.” If you would like to reach out to Tim Ruzek regarding a column, you can email him at [email protected] The post Lookback: Here comes Santa Claus appeared first on Austin Daily Herald.