POCAHONTAS — The cars begin lining up on Maple Street 30 minutes before Santa Claus dons his black boots and strides out into his yard to hand out toys to children.
For three to four hours each night for five nights in December, the three-block stretch that connects U.S. 67 with Decker Street in northeast Pocahontas becomes the heart of Christmas for those in the Randolph County town.
Each year, John Patrick, 75, puts on his red suit and a beard and stands in his decorated front yard, giving children teddy bears, balls and trucks, regaling visitors with Christmas stories and waving and winking at parents.
He’s been doing it for 28 years. It is as much a seasonal ritual for Pocahontas residents to visit Patrick as it is to put up a Christmas tree or send cards to friends.
“We love him,” said Leigh Ann Gibson of Pocahontas, who took her children there for the third year in a row Sunday evening. “It’s a tradition.”
By 7:30 p.m. Sunday,more than 100 children and parents had left their parked cars along Maple Street and walked to Patrick’s yard.
“If God gave me a gift, it’s that I love people,” Patrick said. “I love putting smiles on the faces of children.”
Patrick and his wife, Anne, moved to Pocahontas from Kentucky in 1971 to live closer to her parents.
He drove trucks and was always on the road, but in 1980, he strung Christmas lights up at his house. A year later, he built a Santa’s workshop out of steel sheets hefound on an interstate and began his yearly role as the jolly gift-giver.
“I got me a Santy suit and started handing out toys to people who drove by,” Patrick said. “That’s the way it’s been ever since.”
The neighbors don’t complain about the traffic, which began clogging the street this year on Saturday and will end tonight, when Patrick quits his nightly role.
In fact, they’ve joined in, each decorating their houses with lights, motion displays and candy canes.
“If you live on this street, you’ve got to decorate,” said James McDowell, who has lived on Maple Street for 34 years.
“After John put up his candy canes, we made 200 or more of our own with [plastic] pipes. Everyone else seemed to follow suit.”
Patrick calls the street “Candy Cane Lane” for the five days he plays Santa.
“There’s a lot of traffic the nights he does this,” said Charles Ennis, who lives across the street from Patrick. “But it’s fun and it’s worth it.”
Each night at about 5:30 p.m., Patrick pulls boxes of toys into his yard and turns on his decorations. At the same time, cars line up on narrow Maple Street.
Patrick then goes inside and changes into his red suit. On Sunday, at least 10 children waited in his yard for him to come out. He strolled out to the “oohs” and “ahhs” from the youngsters and handed each one a stuffed animal, ball or toy.
He posed for pictures with parents.
And he told stories to the children, urging them to be good.
“There’s a lot of family values kids learn here,” he said. “Someone may sit in their car with their children for 30 minutes just to make their kids happy for two minutes. Those 30 minutes may be some good quality time for them.”
He hands out an average of 200 to 300 toys nightly - toys that he buys himself.
The back seat and trunk of his car are full of stuffed bears, and he makes trips to Jonesboro during the day to restock his toy chests.
He said he saw one family several years ago that he guessed didn’t have the money to buy their children presents.
“I didn’t think they would have much of a Christmas,” Patrick said, his voice breaking. “I gave their kids three or four toys each. A few days later, [the father] came to me and thanked me. He said it was a tough year. The toys I gave then were the only things they got that year.”
In 1989, Patrick ran successfully for mayor of Pocahontas, serving three four-year terms before retiring in 2001.
“I couldn’t tell you who the mayor was at that time, and I couldn’t have cared,” he said. “I tried to run on my business experience, but nobody paid attention to that. They knew me as the Pocahontas Santa Claus.
“How can anybody not vote for Santa Claus?” he asked.
He won 75 percent of the vote in his first bid for mayor.
Several of the parents who stopped by Patrick’s on Sunday had visited as children.
Sara Seagraves, 28, of Waco, Texas, returned to Pocahontas to see her parents. She drove down Maple Street with her 3-year-old niece, Addy Mae Seagraves of Benton.
“I came out here as a little girl,” she said. “This is the first time for Addy Mae. It’s great. All the kids look forward to it.”
Amber Simington of Pocahontas dressed her 4-month old daughter, Gavin, in a red Santa suit to see Patrick.
“We drove by his house a lot last week to make sure his lights were up and he was going to do this,” she said.
On Saturday, the Pocahontas Police Department dispatch received numerous calls from residents wanting to know if Patrick was out in his yard.
“I never thought he’d do it for 28 years,” said Patrick’s wife, Anne.
“I just sit inside and am amazed when I watch all the cars go by.”
By 10 p.m. Sunday, the line dissipated and Patrick began gathering up his toys.
He would return again the next night to more children.
“I love doing this,” he said. “And I know the people love it.
“I got a letter once from a woman who said she stopped here once. She wrote that she thought ‘there might be a real Santa, after all.’”
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 12/23/2009