When Christenson Chevrolet went away final 12 months, so did Santa Claus.

The dealership in Highland, Ind., close to Chicago, had put up a 20-foot fiberglass Santa yearly for many years. It even began bringing him out of storage for an annual “Christmas in July” sale.

However that stopped after the Christenson household bought their retailer to Garber Automotive Group. The brand new proprietor needed to purchase Santa, too, however the Christensons held onto it as a memento of their longtime enterprise.

“Individuals had been thinking about what occurred to it and upset on Fb,” Craig Blacklidge, normal supervisor of the shop, now known as Garber Chevrolet Highland, told The Times of Northwest Indiana. “I figured it was my civic obligation to get it again.”

Blacklidge found that the earlier Santa got here from Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, which calls itself the world’s largest Christmas retailer, in Frankenmuth, Mich. He purchased a brand new one which’s virtually similar, besides with inexperienced gloves as an alternative of black.

Now the statue, which weighs greater than a ton and needed to be shipped in three items to suit on a truck, is again in Santa’s longtime spot, waving to visitors at one of many metropolis’s busiest intersections.

“We have gotten so many thank yous on Fb and thanks emails,” Blacklidge mentioned in a narrative printed final week. “Individuals have mentioned they’ve taken their household to see it for 40 years and that they have been taking images in entrance of it with their kids for years.”

Garber plans to convey again the Christmas in July sale in order that St. Nick can resume his conventional summer season visits to Highland as properly.

“The response has been above and past something I’ve ever skilled at a automotive dealership,” Blacklidge mentioned. “The very best one was somebody thanking me for returning regular to our lives throughout a tough 12 months. They mentioned they go to go to it to really feel comfy.”