‘A new chapter': Beloved Santa's House moving from London to St. Thomas this Christmas
Santa's House is on the move again.
Unable to find a permanent home in London, Leo Larizza, the founder of the house, has worked out an agreement with the Elgin County Railway Museum to bring the holiday landmark to St. Thomas.
'I want to thank London for everything they've done these past ten years because they've been amazing,' said Larizza, who raises funds from Santa's House to help terminally ill and sick children through his TLC Foundation.
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Santa's House has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for terminally ill and sick children. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)
'It's just that we couldn't come up with another home for Santa in London. I don't know why. We raised hundreds of thousands for kids in London, so now it's a new chapter.'
The charity operated in Victoria Park for seven years, then has been at the Covent Garden Market for the past three.
Now it will be located at the south end of the ECRM.
'We thought it was a great opportunity for the community,' said Will Zufelt, chief operating officer of ECRM.
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The Elgin County Railway Museum will be home to Santa's House in 2025. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)
'Last year we had 350 Christmas trees here. We gave some money back to the Coldest Day of the Year here in town and it's just a great opportunity for businesses to showcase their business. Have the trees up, come in, see the trees and now you're going to see the trees and come see Santa.'
Larizza says Zufelt and his team approached him and wanted the house.
'They're behind this 100 per cent and I wanted just for Santa's house to live and to keep going,' said Larizza.
'They do have an amazing Christmas theme where they light up hundreds and hundreds of trees inside their building. This fits with what they do at Christmas. Thousands of people come here now to visit, their festive trees and now thousands more will come and get pictures with Santa.'
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Santa's House will be a perfect compliment to the annual Christmas Tree Spectacular at the Elgin County Railway Museum. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)
The plan is to have the house at ECRM for 2025, then search for a permanent location.
The dream is to include trains and the rail line.
'We've got bigger plans to bring more people to our community and more tourism for St. Thomas,' said Zufelt.
'We're just going to save those plans for next year. But it's going to happen. Ashley and Lindsey (ECRM staff) are working very hard with the volunteers to make Christmas in 2026 even bigger than 2025, bigger than 2024.'
Larizza is excited about this new location, but still feels the best location is in the middle of Victoria Park or Storybook Gardens.
'One or two people complain and say it's an eyesore and the city reacts and says, 'well, we got to get it out of here,'' said Larizza.
'We've got to look at the reason why Santa's house was there to begin with. If their child was sick and we had to take care of them, they would certainly change their views on it being an eyesore. I just think London had its time and now St. Thomas is going to gain something. They've got a big group behind them to make it even more successful.'
It's still to be determined how the proceeds from the new location will be distributed.
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