05 Dec 2024 Jolly Old Saint Rick

By Becky Bell

There is magic in the air as the days count down to the most wonderful time of the year. 

And part of what makes it the best time of year in Central Arkansas is a special Santa Claus, who when he is not working at the North Pole is also known as Rick Sublett. 

He is so real, he is married to a Mrs. Claus, his wife Peggy Sublett, and they even have a mini-Australian shepherd dog, Dasher, named after one of Santa’s famous reindeer.

Every year, when the calendar turns over to November, Santa Sublett puts on one of his two costumes–the traditional one in Coca-Cola red, with a fur-trimmed collar and reindeer-embossed belt, or the one with a green vest and robe, which can be less cumbersome on some of the home visits he makes and when Santa needs to cool off a bit.

“Oh, it’s a lot of fun,” he said. “It makes you feel young to see the joy in the kids’ eyes when they come up to see Santa Claus. It’s really rewarding.”

It all started about 16 years ago in Conway, when there was a Festival of Lights at the soccer fields. Next, there was an idea to bring something extra to the Conway Kiwanis Club Pancake Breakfast, which is hosted around Thanksgiving each year. That something extra was naming the event Breakfast with Santa and giving attendees the opportunity to take a photo with the big guy. 

“In the first year before Santa, we would have maybe 150 to 200 people through the door for all you could eat pancakes and sausage,” Santa Sublett said. “After we started offering photos with Santa and would also post on the website so people could download on the website, we have about 700, other than during COVID-19.

His beard is also the real thing. For years he had to add one, but now when the tiny tots tug at his beard to check the authenticity of the one who fills their stockings and slides presents under the tree, they know they are dealing with Santa himself.

For Santa Sublett, meeting children at Breakfast with Santa and similar activities is rewarding, but the home visits where he goes to visit families in need are some of the most special moments, spreading the spirit of the Christmas season.

An example of a home visit which still makes him become misty-eyed is one year when a fellow Kiwanian purchased a home visit with Santa Sublett to be given away to a family. This Kiwanian and his Sunday school class wanted to bless a single father who was a construction worker and hadn’t been able to work for several months due to an injury.

And as it turns out, a visit from Santa was just what this family needed to believe in the magic of Christmas during a season of hardship in their lives.

“I went in with gifts in my bag over my shoulder,” Santa Sublett said. “These kids were older, and they didn’t have a great outlook on Christmas that year. I gave them clothes and shoes, and you would have thought I gave them the world. There was joy in their eyes and joy in their dad’s eyes.”

Santa Sublett said as he left the home of the injured father that day, he happened to look back and saw the man in the driveway with tears in his eyes. Those are the kind of moments that keep him suiting up each Christmas to spread Christmas cheer.

“He didn’t think his kids would get anything for Christmas, and I was a small part of that,” he said. “It helped him and showed him that people did care.”

Those kind of home visits and visits to Children’s Hospital to hand out stuffed animals to children too sick to spend Christmas with their families are deeply special to him. 

Another special visit to share the love of Christmas was at the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in Little Rock. Taking blankets to the veterans and thanking them for their service was not something he will ever forget or take for granted.

“The veterans there have been there for a while and felt completely forgotten. They were just as excited to see Santa as any child ever was,” he said, looking back. “There were a lot of tears that day, lots of prayers. But I wouldn’t take anything for that opportunity. I’m glad we went.”

Santa Sublett will be out spreading his Christmas magic again this year, and you never know Central Arkansas—you might just see him coming down a chimney near you.