Before boys and girls can meet Santa Claus at Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa this year, they’ll need a temperature check and a face mask.
And there will be no sitting on Santa’s lap to tell him what gifts to leave under the Christmas tree. Santa and area children eager to see him will have to keep a safe distance from each other.
Such is the case amid a holiday season coinciding with a rapidly intensifying coronavirus pandemic. Other shopping centers in Sonoma County and across the country, meanwhile, are taking similar precautions to ensure children can safely share their wish lists with jolly old Saint Nick.
Still, some U.S. malls and retailers, including Macy’s, have canceled Santa visits or moved them entirely online. But for many of those retaining their Santas, the hope is to bring customers into stores during a winter shopping season upended by the pandemic.
“This year, it’s kind of rolling the dice, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Jimmy Scales, Coddingtown Mall general manager. “For me, it’s not a matter of how busy we are. I just hope a bunch of people know that Santa is here and there’s an opportunity for a new memory.”
At the mall on Wednesday afternoon, Layla Wilson, 9, and her 4-year-old sister, Lucy, took a photo on a bench in front of Santa before the older girl told him what she wants most this Christmas: a new microscope to look at bugs.
“He told me that he would make a deal that if I was good then he would see what he could do,” Wilson said.
The sisters’ mom, Samantha, was impressed with the physical distancing and personal hygiene rules put in place by Amusematte Corp., the company in charge of creating Santa’s set at Coddingtown and taking photos.
“It was nice to not come to a big line of people, that’s why I chose this time of the week and the day,” she said. “It felt a little different, but really safe, and good.”
Across town at Santa Rosa Plaza, staff at the shopping mall’s Santa set are following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and encouraging reservations to cut down on lines and wait times.
“During the visit, children will absolutely be able to have a magical visit with Santa to share smiles and their wish list while maintaining social distance, and everyone will be wearing masks,” Cherry Hill Programs, the company handling the Santa arrangement at the plaza, said in a statement.
Leonard Ramsey, Coddingtown Mall’s Santa for the past eight years, said he misses having the opportunity to walk into different stores and greet families in the mall. This year, he’s confined to the photo set.
But the longtime Windsor resident said the social distancing and other pandemic-related rules haven’t diminished children’s enthusiasm.
“It’s almost like they could care less one way or the other as long as they get to meet Santa, so that part of it is still there,” Ramsey said.
Even though he’s in a high-risk group for contracting COVID-19 because he’s 65, Ramsey said he feels protected by the public health precautions and isn’t too concerned about the risk.
He also didn’t want to pass up the chance to reconnect with families who return to the mall each holiday season.
“It’s fun because you get to watch the kids grow up a little bit,” Ramsey said.
You can reach Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.varian@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian