Meet Santa
In the words of Charles W. Howard, who in 1937, established the longest-running Santa Claus School, "He errs who thinks Santa enters through the chimney. Santa enters through the heart."
Robert E Cowell, who magically becomes Santa in Red Bud and surrounding areas, exemplifies this statement. So much so that he received "Red Bud's 2018 Citizen of Achievement".
Bob loves his community and enjoys telling stories to the children who visit him about their parents and grandparents, which their belief in Santa that much stronger. Besides greeting children ages 0 to 100 in Santa's Village, he attends private parties, visits scout meetings and rides in parades, with his very jolly greeting of Ho Ho Ho!
Before heading back to the North Pole, he travels through town by sleigh, calling out Merry Christmas to all!
His helpers hand out treat bags to all the children who come out of their homes to see him off.
It has been compared to a scene in "It's A Wonderful Life"!
Santa travels down south to a suit maker to get his one-of-a-kind suits. This suit maker's mother actually made suits for the Rat Pack many years ago. Her son followed in her footsteps, and Bob likes to get these impressive suits made specially for him.
Bob attended the Charles W. Howard Santa School in Michigan and is a member of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas. He even appeared as one the Santas on the television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.