After 9 years becoming one of the Boston area's top professional Santa Clauses, Santa Cliff Moore began thinking about adding a sleigh for many of his appearances. As an experienced, part-time costume character actor in the party entertainment industry, Moore wondered if his sleigh idea could be expanded beyond just the Christmas season. He checked out other professional Santas in the United States who had their own sleighs. Even though the other Santas had built sleighs that were amazing in their own right, Moore discovered that they were essentially limited to the Christmas season. Despite this, their efforts constructing those sleighs were an inspiration and a call to action for Moore. Indeed, some of their ideas are incorporated into Moore's sleigh. Thus, the concept of a unique, hand-crafted, adaptable, entertainment-centric sleigh was born.

 

Little did he know however, of the trials and tribulations to be endured to bring the vison to reality. The versatile sleigh idea proved akin to building a car. The process was a daunting engineering, logistical, financial and artistic challenge. There was lots of trial-and-error as well as numerous compromises, but Moore stayed the course. Born in March 2021 in the midst of a pandemic in Alabama, and ping-ponged around the south, it finally landed in Massachusetts by December of 2021. After a span of nearly two years, the sleigh was finally brought to fruition in early 2023.

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The hard work produced a handcrafted marvel. All of the red cedar portions of the sleigh were hand cut in Atmore, Alabama. The basic iron frame was fabricated at EscoFab in Atmore, Alabama and further modified in Massachusetts. The wood for this project was self-milled at Lowell Makes, a nonprofit makerspace organization in Lowell, Massachusetts. The sleigh's air lift, farmer's hitch and custom detachable dolly were engineered and constructed in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Much of the electronics, sound system and effect lighting were installed at ProSound in Salem, NH. From its planning to its completion, thousands of man hours were spent on the project.

 

To truly see what an epic undertaking this endeavor was, click on the "Building The Sleigh" below to see how it was built!

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Originally a GoFund video, here we have a nearly 9-minute clip that is a pretty good depiction of the sleigh's early days. 

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