By Barbara A. Schmitz
For Keith Miller, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. And the people who see him are likely thinking that, too.
After all, what could be better than seeing Santa Claus in July during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh?
You’ll find Keith, known better as Santa Claus, volunteering on the EAA trams as a driver or moderator every day of AirVenture. And if he’s there, you’ll hear people shouting “Merry Christmas!” or “It’s Santa Claus!” You’ll also see little ones smiling or pointing in excitement, like they can’t believe what they are seeing.
Santa has been volunteering with trams since 2017 and usually wears a Santa hat and name tag that simply reads “S. Claus.”
“If I’m going to look like this,” he said, pointing to his beard, “why not?”
“The last time I shaved was September 8, 1984, two days before I got out of the Army,” he said. “My wife has only seen my chin in pictures.”
Back home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Keith is also known as Santa. It started when a young girl, now 21, told him he was Santa. “I told her I wasn’t,” he recalled. “But she said, ‘The beard, the belly … yes, you’re Santa.’”
So he decided to play the part. Dressed in his Santa suit, he hands out gift bags for employees’ children at a local bar and restaurant they frequent. Last year, he also helped out a doggie rescue fundraiser in his suit. While he doesn’t bring his Santa suit to Oshkosh, the beard makes it clear that he is, indeed, the real thing.
He seldom tells Santa stories on board the EAA trams. “One is definitely a pilot joke, but it’s a little dark,” he said. Sometimes children will tell him what they want for Christmas. One man said he’d like a P-51 Mustang, but Santa explained to him that no one is that good.
A pilot who flies a Piper Aero, Keith said he plays Santa because he likes to make people smile. “You can tell when someone notices. Even if it’s the end of the day and they’re tired from a day in the field, they see me driving along and they start smiling and laughing.”