As communities across Maine begin decking the halls for the upcoming holidays, a midcoast community is bringing back its own peculiar vintage Santa Claus decoration in a form that more of its residents can savor.
For more than 40 years, Belfast has been hanging a light-up Santa ornament as part of its annual downtown Christmas decorations. But it’s no ordinary St. Nick: He has come to be known as “Broke Neck Santa,” because his head dangles at a sharp angle off its body, as though he’s trying to knock water out of his left ear.
Now, a downtown organization has brought back a limited run of smaller glass holiday ornaments that depict the off-kilter Santa, after ornaments featuring his likeness were first made in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. They’re for sale in several small businesses around downtown.
“I remember Broke Neck Santa from my childhood, growing up and seeing the lights,” said Sierra Dietz, owner of the Belfast Grasshopper Shop, which is one of the stores that carries them. “I think it’s just fun. It’s a little quirky, like Belfast, so it seems like the perfect fit for our town.”
They’ve been selling at a steady pace, according to Dietz, who noted during an interview that a customer had bought seven of them earlier in the day.
“I think the city just put up the lights last week, and that’s spurred interest in Broke Neck Santa specifically,” Dietz said.
The Broke Neck Santa decoration was first introduced to Belfast sometime in the 1980s, after the city’s longtime former Fire Chief Jim Richards obtained a batch of gently used ornaments that were for sale in New Jersey, according to the Bangor Daily News archive. The ornament itself appears to have first gone on the market sometime in the 1950s or 1960s under the name “Cletus Claus.”
Ever since, locals have warmed to the decoration, which they say is well-suited to the eccentric image that the midcoast city has embraced.
“This is just something we’ve had traditionally around High Street that signals the beginning of the holiday season,” said Amanda Cunningham, executive director of Our Town Belfast, the group that had the decorations made. “When those lights come on, you know Christmas is right around the corner.”
As the group notes on its website, “Now known as Broke Neck Santa, he reminds us to stay jolly — even when losing our heads!”
Other shops that carry the ornaments are The Green Store, Grump & Sunshine Bookshop and Belfast Fiber Arts.
At the Green Store on Monday, Rae Chalmers, a relatively new Belfast resident, considered buying one of the ornaments, but she ultimately declined. If anything, she said that Broke Neck Santa — which she’d only recently heard about — didn’t live up to the oddity of his name.
“I thought his neck would look more broken,” Chalmers said. “I was intrigued, and I was thinking of getting one for my husband, but the neck wasn’t broken enough, which is really sad.”
But, according to Dietz, the ornaments may be more suited to people with fond memories of the light-up Santa — whatever the angle of his neck.
“It makes a good Christmas present, especially for those who maybe grew up in Belfast but don’t live here anymore,” Dietz said.