Last year we told the story of Celebrate Santa, a convention of hundreds of professional Santas in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a for-profit venture run by “Santa” Joe Moore and his wife, Mary, operating under the business name Jolly Old Elf LLC. Controversy from that event erupted over the sale of a keepsake plaque bearing the words of the Santa Claus Oath, a statement of belief and standard of behavior embraced by many within the Santa world.
The controversy was a simple one: Celebrate Santa presumably sold the plaques as a benefit for Santa-America, Inc, a charitable organization of many of those same Santas who work to benefit special needs children. The problems arose when Celebrate Santa took the money for more than sixty of the $100 plaques and then didn’t deliver the goods, send the proceeds to Santa America or pay the vendor for the plaques.
Chaos erupted in the Santa world in online forums, in organized national and regional Santa associations and on social networking websites such as Facebook and Yahoo as it was revealed that Celebrate Santa indeed had ordered the plaques but did not pay the vendor for them. Joe and Mary Moore became pariahs first for their lies about the situation (they claimed the vendor raised the price and that the plaque was no longer available in its original design) and later for their silence on the matter.
At one time it appeared that Celebrate Santa was done for. Rumored investigations and charges filed with the Attorney General of the State of Tennessee seemed to point to justice being served.
But slowly, over the course of a year, the controversy has died down. Nearly all the key parties involved have turned a cold shoulder to the wrongs committed and appear now to be looking the other way. Celebrate Santa is gearing up for their event again, this year on March 13th in Gatlinburg.
Mary Moore, Joe’s wife and business partner, claimed the arrangement all along called for settlement with Santa America “at the end of the year”.
Santa America recently announced the receipt of $376 from Celebrate Santa as proceeds from the plaque sales. Ernest Berger, head of Santa-America and one-time mayoral candidate for his home town of Daphne, Alabama, claims no business connection with Joe and Mary Moore and looks at the $376 as any other donation.
“Santa America is a completely “passive recipient” of any donation that may result from the sale of Oath Plaques.” Berger tells DefendingSanta.com. “Santa America continues to be grateful to Santa Phil Wenz, the originator of the Santa Oath for donating profits from ANY source utilizing the Santa Oath to Santa America. This is Phil’s kind act as the owner of the intellectual and artistic content of the Oath and the Plaque. It was on this basis alone that the profits from the sale of the Plaques by Celebrate Santa were to be donated to Santa America.”
The plaques were manufactured by Cascade Engraving of Springfield, Oregon. According to Cindy Murdock, owner of Cascade Engraving, special arrangements were made to price the plaques low enough for most Santas to be able to afford. The plaques were sold to Celebrate Santa for $76.73, leaving $23.27 per oath plaque sale to be supposedly donated to Santa America.
Celebrate Santa claims that “about 60” of the plaques were sold, meaning that Santa America should have received $1396.20 in donation from Joe and Mary Moore’s sale of the plaques.
Berger claims no association with the accounting even though Joe and Mary Moore are still listed as advisors on the Santa America website and have been for several years.
Public comments made by Berger to other Santas make it clear that a handshake deal was done with Joe Moore over the plaque issue.
“This is a follow-up to the recent concerns over the sale of Santa Oath plaques at 2009 CS.” Berger writes in a posting shared on a closed Santa association website. “Yesterday, Santa America received a check for $376.06 from CS for donations due on the sale of 50 Oath Plaques. With the receipt of this donation Santa America has received what was committed in all forms of support from CS 2009. For Santa America, the relationship with CS2009 is now clean.”
That means the proceeds from the plaques were only $7.52 per plaque (assuming only 50 plaques were sold, now another point of contention). Where is the additional $15.75 per plaque profit? Santa America doesn’t say and Celebrate Santa, of course, is mum on the whole deal.
Berger continues to justify the action with these additional comments: “Let me state plainly, that the amount of the check is less than we had hoped for, BUT it is a DONATION and not an account receivable. It is most appreciated in these tough economic times. Santa America is not interested in participating in a pseudo-accounting exercise to parse the final amount of the donation. We have also been offered some “comped support” for participating in Celebrate Santa 2010 and I’m working with Santa Bob Elkin to have a smaller, but still enthusiastic, presence at Celebrate Santa 2010.”
Coincidentally, we have learned that vendor booth space at Celebrate Santa is $600 – an amount that when added together with the monies received from the plaque sale would come close to covering the promised donation to Santa America. As Berger and Moore go arm-in-arm off to Celebrate Santa 2010 – “the relationship with CS 2009 now clean” – no mention is made of further fund raising activities that will supposedly benefit Santa America under the management of Celebrate Santa.
Confusion, however, continues to dominate amongst attendees of the Moore convention. “At the time we made all our final payments, which was March 9th 2009, Mary Moore told us over the phone, most specifically, that the check for the Oath Plaque MUST NOT be made out to CS or the Moores, but made out separately to Santa America” says Santa Rob Figley. “Specifically, the checks were to be made out to “Santa America/Oath Plaque” for the full $100.00 that was the charge for the plaque. So, imagine our surprise when, looking at that particular check, we find that it was NOT endorsed and deposited by Santa America, but rather was stamped with a “For Deposit Only” stamp by Joe Moore’s very own “Jolly Old Elf LLC” who deposited it.”
While this undercurrent of turmoil perpetuates a sad history of embarrassing behavior in the world of professional Santas, Joe and Mary Moore – and a handful of ardent supporters who serve as unpaid “chairpersons” in their for-profit venture – still owe Cindy Murdoch and Cascade Engraving for the plaques.
“At this point I don’t expect that the remaining balance of $1,000 will be paid.” Murdoch writes. “This is a decision the Moore’s have made and except for suing them in Small Claims Court, I have no way to recover what we paid out to produce and ship those plaques. It would cost me more to get a judgment (which I know we would be successful in getting) so we’re cutting our losses here. I doubt the Moore’s would pay even if we had a judgment against them.”
So where are we a year later in this whole mess?
We are right where the world of Santas took us in 2006. The “industry” of professional Santa Clauses continues to be dominated by shysters, hucksters, and profiteers who have strayed far from the image of the original St. Nicholas. They have made merchandise of Santa Claus and continue to sully an image already battered by Hollywood and marketers for well over a century.
While we at DefendingSanta.com have made it our mission to remind the world of the true nature of Claus we never expected such troubles from those who dress to portray him. There is a separation in that world – those who do it for money – and those who do it for the love of Christmas, children and Santa himself. We will continue to document the sad travails of those who make Santa a career. Their antics will no doubt continue.