What is the history behind the Dayton's Santa Bear?
MINNEAPOLIS – A nostalgia-inducing stuffed animal made a triumphant return in Minnesota this holiday season.
The Dayton's Santa Bear had families reliving warm memories, and once again eagerly waiting in line.
What is the history behind the Dayton's Santa Bear? And is the tradition officially back? Jeff Wagner found one family that sure hopes so.
"This is kind of a representation of my childhood," said Courtney Mulhern, as she looked out at more than two dozen Dayton's Santa Bears carefully on display in her mother's living room in Rosemount.
A trip down memory lane at her family home is stuffed with fuzzy reminders of Christmas past, with each bear still carrying the original price tag.
"We would get up early in the morning and kind of plan our day around getting these bears, it was Black Friday," said Courtney.
Lori Mulhern, Courtney's mom, started the family's Santa Bear collection when they moved back to Minnesota in 1986.
"Just getting the girls dressed up and just making a festive time for them, they had a really good time," said Lori.
They would visit Dayton's during the holiday season, and securing the bear became an annual tradition.
"It was special. I think they knew how special it was for me and, you know, they were excited to see what the theme was gonna be," said Lori.
Her family has one of every bear that was released. Lori keeps track of each one in a binder, along with the different decorative themes on the eighth floor at Dayton's in downtown Minneapolis from each year.
Elizabeth Kleber shared their excitement. She used to write a quarterly Santa Bear newsletter that included classified ads for collectors trying to sell or find the toy and accessories. She also befriended the toy's creator, Paul Starkey.
How did the Santa Bear tradition begin? It was a marketing ploy in 1985 to get people in the stores.
"There was a seven-day-shorter buying period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, the guy that was the CEO of Dayton's said, 'Somebody needs to come up with an idea,'" Kleber said. "People just bum rushed the place the day after Thanksgiving and they were gone within two hours – 400,000 bears gone."
The bear wore a somewhat similar hat and scarf in year two, but demand dropped.
"And that's when they said, 'Look, we need to have a different theme every year,'" Kleber said.
Whether it was a new outfit to look like a wizard, cute props like a passport, or adding Miss Bear to the equation, the yearly theme helped maintain excitement across 23 years.
The hype transcended the toy itself. Pictures of the bear were found on mugs, clothing, anything you could think of, Kleber said.
There was also a cartoon TV special and giveaway partnership with General Mills. You could win a Santa Bear package if you were lucky when buying a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Which Santa Bear currently has the highest demand? If not year one, Kleber said 1990. She said Starkey told her that a shipping container with the 1990 bears fell off a ship on its way from China to the United States.
"There is about 400,000 Santa Bears at the bottom of the ocean," she said.
What caused the Santa Bear run to end? Kleber believes it has to do with an ownership change.
Dayton's, which in 2001 was rebranded as Marshall Fields, was owned by parent company Federated Department Stores. The parent company of Macy's, May Department Stores, purchased Federated Department Stores in 2005. Marshall Fields stores would take on the name Macy's. The final Santa Bear was released in 2007.
Fifteen years after its original run, an entirely new generation now gets to join in the fun. A smaller version of the 1986 Santa Bear was released this season at the Shop in the City at the Dayton's Winter Makers Market.
WCCO has been told that plans are in place to bring the bear back next winter with a new look.
