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Front Porch

Neighborhood keeps Santa tradition afloat

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published December 22, 2006

Some holiday traditions trail seamlessly over decades, lighting the spark of sentiment from one generation to the next.

In my family, we still search the tree for a delicate old German ornament bedecked with angels and glitter that opens to reveal a message or gift.

I got to thinking about such rituals a few weeks ago after the annual lighting of the holiday tree in my neighborhood. I imagine the tradition is as old as my little community. Even the towering yet kind-looking Santa is an old-fashioned behemoth, a prop that looks like it might have lumbered off the set of Miracle on 34th Street.

In the Hampton Terrace neighborhood of Old Seminole Heights, there's a tradition that dates well back to the Truman era. It was recently revived by a younger generation of residents who didn't want to lose something the neighborhood has long held dear.

The Santa float.

If you grew up in the Tampa Bay area, you probably remember him - a jolly old guy who floated with a lighted tree, sleigh and reindeer on Lake Roberta, the small, spring-fed lake that makes this architecturally diverse neighborhood even more unique.

Resident Greg Barnhill, a commercial banker who is working on a master's degree in architecture from the University of South Florida, said that long ago, the little lake was once a cattle watering hole for cowboys on the way to the Port of Tampa.

Now the lake is an attraction in this historic neighborhood, a place that draws runners, dog walkers and families out for an after-work stroll.

Five years ago, younger neighborhood residents got to talking about the Santa float tradition. The display had lived on through the 1950s and 1960s, but died sometime in the 1970s.

What happened to him, they wondered? Could the tradition be revived?

"The neighborhood was transitioning from older buyers to younger buyers," recalls Barnhill, who lives in a 1926 yellow-brick bungalow on Clifton Street.

"We had many people tell us that when they were kids that their parents brought them to see the lights around the lake, look at Santa on his float and listen to the Christmas music that was played by the homes on the lake. Traffic used to back up on Nebraska Avenue as drivers waited to turn in to see the decorations."

About five years ago, a group of neighbors decided to revive and rebuild the floating, lighted display. Santa, sleigh and reindeer now ride again atop six 55-gallon drums topped with sheets of plywood that serve as the base.

After New Year's Day, Hampton Terrace residents store the float and props in their garages, rafters and sheds.

Just like the old days.

It's a tradition in a neighborhood loaded with tradition, Barnhill says.

Last week local carolers made their annual appearance in an event that draws hundreds of people to the neighborhood.

As for the Santa float, he muses, it's creating new memories for a generation of children in Old Seminole Heights and stirring sweet emotions for legions of Tampa's grown-up children.

Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com.

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[Last modified December 21, 2006, 07:50:15]