Santa Rig will be out Christmas morning

Fire Santa and helpers 2019
Photo by Wayne Pridemore

By Diane Hettrick

Continuing a decades long tradition, volunteer Santas from Shoreline Fire will be out on Christmas morning, visiting westside neighborhoods to greet families and hand out candy to the kids.

They use a vintage rig, driving slowly through the streets, playing Christmas music and blowing the horn.

Families gather as they hear the rig coming, standing on the street with warm drinks in hand, waiting for Santa.

The map shows the area they hope to cover. How far they get depends on how many volunteers they have and the weather.

Last year, for the first time, they drove through central Shoreline, from Echo Lake through Meridian Park and Parkwood. They terrified a lot of people who were unaware of the tradition and heard raucous noise, fire horns, and perhaps caught a glimpse of a fire engine. 

Babies cried, car alarms went off, and dogs barked. 

Once people realized it was all in good fun, they came out to greet the fire Santas.

This year they are back to their old route, not planning to go east of 8th NW, covering places where people understand what the noise means and welcome it as an opportunity for photo ops!