Loss brought an Osceola Mills man closer to Santa Claus. Documentary will tell his story

Once Thanksgiving is over and all the leftovers have been packed up, Osceola Mills resident Allen Smith starts to prepare for his favorite part of the year — his holiday season job helping Santa Claus.

Smith, who spends his most of the year as a CDL instructor at Clearfield County Career and Technology Center, spends the six weeks leading up to Christmas helping Santa, and sometimes Mrs. Claus, visit the children of central Pennsylvania. This season, a documentary crew has tagged along to some of those visits as they prepare to bring his unique story to life.

Utilizing his full white beard, Smith, 53, started helping Santa Claus just after Thanksgiving in 2014 following the death of his uncle. What had always been his favorite holiday was looking to be a melancholic affair, with no one in the Smith family excited to celebrate after the recent loss. In attempt to bring back some Christmas spirit, Smith bought a cheap suit at T.J. Maxx and started his career as Santa’s helper.

“My family’s pretty tight-knit family for the most part,” Smith said. “And that year, nobody had Christmas spirit. I mean, everybody was depressed. We lost one of our cornerstones to our family.”

Four years ago, Smith’s life was upturned again with the sudden loss of his 23-year-old son, Garrett, who died after an allergic reaction to a bee sting. After that, Smith’s holiday job of bringing joy to children seemed even more vital for the community.

“That’s part of the biggest reason why I’m so big into Santa now is the love that I can’t give or get from my own son,” Smith said. “Now I get that from all the other kids that I see.”

After years of dedicating his holiday seasons to Santa Claus, Smith is preparing to share his story with a wider community through a documentary and a feature film based on his life. Clearfield County native Spencer Folmar, the director of both films, met Smith eight years ago and was so moved by his story he began the screenplay for “Saint Nick,” a fictionalized version of Smith’s story. Following the first round of filming for “Saint Nick” in Bethlehem, Pa., Folmar and Smith’s stepson Isaac March began filming a documentary showing the true events of Smith’s journey into the big red suit, titled “Sad Santa & the Healing Power of Giving.”

“I was just so interested to know that there was a local Santa Claus in the community,” Folmar said. “And he was telling me all the different things he was doing and helping out people in hard places. It almost sounded more like a charity than most Santa Clauses I had heard.”

Both helping Santa and filming the documentary have become a family affair, featuring Smith’s wife Gina Raymond and March, who works as a producer on the documentary. Smith and Raymond were high school sweethearts who reunited a decade ago and married in 2017. Now, she helps Mrs. Claus and manages Santa’s schedule, planning and organizing anywhere from 30-40 events throughout the six weeks before the holiday.

While filming for the documentary on Dec. 11, Smith visited Soaring Heights School in State College, a school dedicated to students with autism. Smith visited student classrooms and spoke with them about school, Christmas and what gifts they were hoping for. Toward the end of the school day Smith met students in the lobby, passing out Lego toys, Rubik’s Cubes, books and more to the students.

Raymond estimates that Santa sees about 2,000 people in the central Pennsylvania area during the season.

“We had a headcount of about 2,000 people that we were able to see, whether they be children or adults, geriatric nursing homes and facilities like that,” Raymond said.

Although helping Santa brings Raymond and Smith much joy, it’s not always the easiest job. Sometimes kids ask Santa for wishes far more complex than gifts or toys, like helping a terminal parent or seeing an incarcerated family member.

“They should be worried about you know, what shoes am I going to get or what toys am I going to get?” Smith said. “What do I really want for Christmas? What show do I want to watch on TV? Some of these kids are actually thinking some very adult things, unfortunately.”

With Christmas fast approaching, Smith is busier than ever with events around Centre and Clearfield counties. Some of Smith’s events book the year out, including many of the Santa’s Workshop reservations. Information on events and reservations are posted on Raymond’s Facebook, GiGi Entertainment.

March said there’s no scheduled release date for both films, but he hopes that either the feature film or documentary will be released around Christmas 2025.

This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 10:00 AM.