Santa Association releases 'Santa Statistics' |
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By: Gabriel J. Adams Posted: 2006-11-25 21:40:51 |
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59.34 years . . 69.7 inches . . . 15.5 million children . . . .and the Man in the Red Suit.
What are the above numbers? What meaning or use do they have? And, how do they relate to the 'Man in the Red Suit?" You know. The white bearded gentleman who recently arrived at your local mall! Well, according to the AORBS, Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas, the average 'real bearded' Santa is 59.34 years old. He's 69.7 inches tall and weights in at 256.89 pounds. Wow! That's a lot of cookies and milk! These statistics and many others were collected this past summer when the AORBS hosted the first ever 'real' convention for Santas. In particular, 'real bearded' Santas. "325 Santas responded to our survey, to help us define who our average member was," states Santa Tim Connaghan, Executive Director of the over 1,100 member association of 'real bearded' Santas. He added, "Every year we get requests for information on the Santas and the convention was the perfect venue to use for collecting the data." According to the survey, over 55% of the Santas have blue eyes. 86.8 % of the Santas are married, and have been, for an average of 24.16 years. And the AORBS survey reports the average Santa has 2.73 children, 3.53 grandchildren, and one in four is a great-grandparent. But the two things that all AORBS members have in common, and must have to belong to the order are: 1) a real beard and 2) that they are currently or have been at one time, a santa, either as a professional or as a volunteer. At 58, just one year less than the survey's average age, Connaghan has been the associations volunteer Executive Director for the past three years. The survey was his idea and each day during the Santa convention, he would announce little bits of the survey to the members. And now, with the Holiday Season upon us, he decided to share the survey results. He says that many people often ask, "Who is that white bearded gentleman sitting in the mall?" "Where did he come from?" "What qualifications does he have?" "Is his beard real?" "Everyone is curious and wants to know about the Man in the Red Suit." He said. Connaghan added, "In recent years the public has become more concerned about who their children are supervised by and who they visit." "And, in addition to teachers and youth leaders, they also want to know about Santa." Through the distribution of this information, the AORBS hopes to inform the public on who the average Santa is. According to the survey, off-season occupations range from engineers and project managers to school teachers and doctors. One California Santa is a heart surgeon. "When not wearing the 'Red Suit,' a Santa might be found working at many other occupations." Connaghan Stated. "Although lots of our members are retired, we still have many who have regular occupations," he added. He should know. When not wearing the red suit Santa Tim, as his fellow Santas call him, spends the other eleven months of the year as the owner of a small business that finds work for other Santas. He also directs a Santa School and runs Santa's Wardrobe, a company that supplies custom suits, boots and accessories for the professional Santa. Connaghan also serves as the official Santa for the Annual Hollywood Christmas parade and has appeared on the Tonight Show, Dr. Phil and will soon be seen on the USA Network' "Character Fantasy", National Geographic's "Christmas out of the Box" special, and this coming Christmas Day, December 25, on Deal or No Deal. Now to that last figure, 15.5 million. It just so happens that this is the estimated number of children the Santas of the AORBS have seen in the last dozen years. Wow, that's a lot of camera flashes!. |
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