Surfing Santas is an annual festival held in

Cocoa Beach, Florida Cocoa Beach is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 11,354 at the 2020 United States census, up from 11,231 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Palm Bay, Florida, Palm Bay–Melbourne, Florida, Melbourne–T ...

, on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

. Participants dress up as

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

and surf, while thousands of spectators watch from the beach, which hosts a costume competition and live music.

Event

Surfing Santas is a free beach party held between 8a.m. and noon on

at the Minutemen Causeway area of

; the Santas surf from 10a.m. It attracts hundreds of surfers, traditionally dressed as

but some also wearing elf, reindeer, and

Grinch The Grinch is a character created by children's author and cartoonist Dr. Seuss. He is best known as the titular main protagonist of the 1957 children's book ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' He has been portrayed and voiced by many actors, i ...

costumes, as well as thousands of spectators every year. Local food stalls open on the beach for the event. A live band plays music at the event, which also features a costume competition and

Hawaiian dance Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form expressing chant (''oli'') or song ( ''mele''). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visual dance ...

rs. Festival regulars include "Mr. and Mrs. Surfing Santa" – Clifford "Peanut" and Terrie Keuhner. The festival collects charity donations for the Florida Surf Museum and Grind For Life. The festivals have raised over $90,000 for local charities. As Cocoa Beach is on the

Space Coast The Space Coast is a region in the U.S. state of Florida around the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It is one of several "themed" coasts around Florida. All orbital launches from American soil carrying NASA ast ...

, themed shirts depicting Santa in space are sold at the event.

History

Cocoa Beach has a prominent surfing history, and is considered a capital of the activity. Surfing Santas began in 2009, started by George Trosset and his family, and since 2014 the event has been organized along with the Florida Surf Museum. Trosset grew up in

Rockledge, Florida Rockledge is the oldest city in Brevard County, Florida. The city's population was 27,678 at the 2020 Census, up from 24,926 at the 2010 United States Census, and is part of the Palm Bay−Melbourne− Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

, and was around surfing Santa iconography from his childhood. He moved to Cocoa Beach to take over his grandfather's boat shop in 1979, selling the business in 1998. Inspired by a

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

commercial showing surfers driving to the beach on Christmas and surfing while wearing Santa hats and white beards, Trosset decided to expand on this and make it a Christmas tradition. His wife made him a Santa costume and he went out surfing on Christmas Eve 2009 with his children; ''

Florida Today ''Florida Today'' is the major daily newspaper serving Brevard County, Florida. Al Neuharth of the Gannett corporation started the paper in 1966, and some of the things he did with this newspaper presaged what he would later do at ''USA Toda ...

'' photographer Rik Jesse was at the beach, and published photographs he took of Trosset in the Christmas Day paper. As he intended, Trosset continued his tradition, inviting along friends and drawing crowds of similar-minded people. The surfing Santas all convened near Trosset's beach house, but grew too numerous in 2013. Cocoa Beach city council then approved organizing the event downtown. In 2018, around 10,000 people attended, 75% of which spent more than one day for their visit, creating Christmas tourism in the area. ''Beach Grit'' suggested that Surfing Santas had become Cocoa Beach's biggest claim to fame, overtaking

Kelly Slater Robert Kelly Slater (born February 11, 1972) is an American professional surfer who has been crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. He is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, and holds 56 Championship T ...

. Despite the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the event continued in 2021; it had been held virtually in 2020, though several hundred people still went to the beach to surf as Santa without the festival.

References

{{reflist 2009 establishments in Florida Annual events in Florida Festivals in Florida Santa Claus Surf culture Surfing in Florida Surfing organizations Tourist attractions in Brevard County, Florida

Event

History

See also

References