Ho! Ho! Huh?

This afternoon, I was on the Internet reading old newspaper articles about Carolina Circle Mall and I cam across a very interesting one from 1994.

On Monday evening, December 19, 1994, a man disguised as Santa Claus visited Carolina Circle Mall and handed out $20 bills to random shoppers.

Cheryl Martin, the mall manager at the time stated that Carolina Circle Mall officials had no clue who he was. One of the $20 bills had a note attached to it saying, "Warmest holiday wishes from Carolina Circle Mall", according to Cheryl. The next day, Cheryl tried to track this mystery man down, but was unsuccessful.

The man in the Santa suit arrived at the mall at about 6:00 PM that evening. For about 30 minutes, he would approach shoppers, ask if they had been good this year, and would then hand them $20 with a note attached. He then disappeared.

An off-duty Greensboro police sergeant, Joe Deich, was working as a security officer at Dillard's at the time of Santa's visit. He didn't recognize the man either when he was approached by Santa. Santa asked the officer if he had been a good police officer this year. He said, "Yes, I have, Santa Claus". He then shook his hand, said "Merry Christmas" and gave the officer a $20 bill with a note saying "Yes, North Carolina, there is a Santa Claus".

The officer watched in surprise as Santa went downstairs and handed out about $100 more before heading out the door near Circle Six Theatres.

The owner of Fifth Avenue Men's, Simon Simaan, also witnessed Santa handing $20 bills to several children.

Joe Deich, the officer who received his $20 at Dillard's, gave his $20 to the Greensboro Police Department Fund.

In my opinion, this is truly amazing. Whoever this man was, I think he should be proud of himself. I think he probably gave out at least $500 in this 30 minute period. I think this was one of the nicest events that ever took place at Carolina Circle Mall. Too bad I wasn't there that evening.