Hall of Fame Santa was friend to many, including Big Bird

Provided photos

ALBION – Debbie Mirrione of Batavia sent in these photos of her grandfather, George Cond of Holley. Cond was a Santa at Christmas Park in Albion, hand-picked to play the role by Charles Howard, who developed Christmas Park and also a Santa Claus School.

The late Mr. Cond is being inducted in the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame on Sunday during a Santa Claus convention in Branson, Missouri (click here for more on the convention). The convention was in Albion last year.

The top photo shows Cond with Big Bird in Garden Plaza, Parmer, N.J.

In this photo, Cond (Santa) is pictured with Mrs. Claus (Cond’s wife, Elaine).

Cond was born in 1925 and lived until 1996.  The Holley resident in the mid-1950s enrolled in the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School in Albion.

Cond was so good at portraying Santa that Charles Howard embraced Cond as the Santa at Christmas Park in Albion, Howard’s entertainment venue at Route 31 on Phipps Road. Howard was inducted in the Santa Hall of Fame in 2010, a member of the inaugural class.

Cond is pictured with some of the key ladies at Christmas Park, including front row, from left: Elaine Cond, Santa, and Ruth Hayward. Back row: Elizabeth Babcock, Mae Wolfe, Margaret Alloway, and Sophie Bischer. Babcock made many of the Santa suits that were sold at Christmas Park.

For more on Cond from the Santa Hall of Fame, click here.