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GREAT GIFT IDEA

Mensch on a Bench

Hanukkah Hank isn’t the only Festival of Lights-themed mascot that you can find online. But on the first Saturday of December at the Haven Farm event venue in Knightdale, there is one striking difference from other Santa visits.

You can even pick up a Hanukkah Hank yard sign decoration or hanging holiday ornament. Appearances this year include the University City Lights Festival in Charlotte and the Winston-Salem Ambassadors Holiday Parade.

Hanukkah Hank is available as an inflatable lawn decoration, and as a fun graphic on T-shirts, hoodies, tote bags and other accessories (see all available options here).

At Raleigh’s Crabtree Valley Mall, patrons were taking notice.

“A lot of minorities were asking if we were going to have a Santa of color,” he said.

NEW RELEASE

Inclusive Christmas Black Santa Inflatable

All of the diverse Santas are available online now at retailers like Amazon and Walmart.

gay black santa

But it isn’t just Christmas that the brand celebrates: the company has also unveiled “Hanukkah Hank,” a similarly jolly old fellow, with a little round belly and white beard to boot.

ALSO AVAILABLE

Outdoor Santa Inflatable

And if you just want good ol’ St.

Nick, you can pick up this nine-foot inflatable on Amazon. In 2013, then-Fox News personality Megyn Kelly decried Black Santas on her show, saying: “For all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white.” Her comments went viral, not least because the jolly old elf is—and apologies to any kids reading this—fictional.

But others have embraced a more multicultural holiday, even before the trend grew over the last decade.

Braxton’s “posse,” as he calls it, is now up to nine Santas who will attend about 40 private and public events this year. 

“People walk by and see us and get excited,” said Christina Geddie, the photographer working the Haven Farm shoot. The durable material is also water-resistant and slash-proof. At the end of the conversation, he threw Braxton’s business card on the table and revealed himself to be the same Santa-looking man from the mall.

Keyes said at the time he wasn’t sure why he hadn’t called back earlier, but it seems he was meant to play the role.

Hop the Black Santa, formed in 2019, features several Black Santas and a Black Mrs. Claus in and around Charlotte. Braxton took the idea to the mall management. As North Carolina grew more diverse, he saw demand for Santas of color rising.

HOLIDAY RELEASE

Hanukkah Hank Inflatable

The six-foot-tall inflatable is available online now.

There are definitely a lot more people who embrace it than don’t.”

Customers at public events pay $30 to $75 for sets of digital images, with an average price of $49.95 for five pictures. Braxton thinks the film contributed to a reduction in negative comments, as well as the growing demand for his Santas. 

Now, to keep his business strong, he is on a recruitment mission, constantly on the search for Black men with white beards. 

“We may need you in a few more years when that beard starts to turn white,” he told Barry Davis that first Saturday in December, as Davis and his wife entered the photo shoot at Haven Farm with 10-month-old Brianna and 2-year-old Barrington. 

After a November event at Lake Norman Charter Elementary School in November, Braxton said, he stopped by the Apple Store at Birkdale Village in Huntersville, where he spotted a Black customer sporting a white beard.

He discusses the good, the bad, and the ugly in the 2023 short documentaryAmerican Santa. It’s a great gift idea for the Jewish holidays or as a white elephant present.