Albion Betterment Committee plans Santa House in downtown

Group will take ideas from public at Sept. 10 meeting

The late Charles Howard, leader of a Santa Claus School and also Christmas Park, works with a Santa portrayer in Albion in this undated photo. Howard died in 1966. The Betterment Committee may utilize some of his designs and concepts in a new Santa House.

ALBION – The Albion Betterment Committee is ready to tackle its next project celebrating Albion’s Santa legacy.

The group wants to build a Santa House on village-owned land next to the First Presbyterian Church on Main Street. The Village Board has given the Betterment Committee permission to pursue the project, with the understanding the board gets a final say on the design of the building and site layout.

The Betterment Committee wants to hear from the public about the project. The group is planning an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 10 at Hoag Library. The public can share its ideas for the how the building should look.

The village doesn’t want the structure to be more than 200 square feet.

The Betterment Committee has $21,000 raised already towards the project. It is pricing out materials and other expenses for the Santa House and site improvements.

The group is also planning to have a sleigh built and installed in the Waterman Park where there is a bronze Santa statue. The Betterment Committee unveiled that statue during the Albion Strawberry Festival in June 2023. The new sleigh will also be a tribute for Howard’s grandson, the late Charles Bergeman. He passed away at age 64 on Oct. 31, 2023.

The Betterment Committee has also put “Believe” signs in Albion, a welcome sign with an image of Charles Howard in a Santa suit, while supporting other projects to highlight Howard and the Santa School that operating in Albion from 1937 until Howard’s death in 1966. (The school continues in Howard’s name today in Midland, Mich.)

The new Santa House will include display areas for memorabilia from the Santa School and the Christmas Park that was also run by Howard.

Natasha Wasuck of the Betterment Committee wants the house to be “cute with a lot of personality.”

The Santa statue is shown in June 2023 with a mural of Santa in flight over the courthouse and downtown Albion. Stacey Kirby Steward created the 24-foot-long mural in 2018. Brian Porter made the bronze statue.