You might not be expecting him, what with this being the middle of a very hot summer, but Santa Claus is coming to town.

It will be Christmas in July when the Midsummer Yule Festival is held Saturday at the National Christmas Center on Lincoln Highway East.

The event will include a Christkindlmart, with artisans demonstrating many holiday-related crafts, including glass blowing, candy making, paper cutting, wood carving and springerle cookie painting.

Vendors will be selling Christmas-related items, holiday music will ring through the center's parking lot and there will be face painting and special festival food.

Shuttle buses will take people from the nearby barn, where people will be asked to park, to the parking lot where the festival is taking place.

And a number of Santas will be there too.

"We did this last year and it was very successful. People were excited about it because it was something different," says Jim Morrison, who runs the Christmas Center and has quite a resemblance to Kris Kringle.

A special dedication ceremony will take place Saturday at 10 a.m. An exhibit is being donated to the National Christmas Center by the Santa Claus Oath Foundation.

The Santa Claus Oath looks at the history of those who have portrayed Santa and the oath they take to bring the ideals of Santa Claus alive.

"Over 2,500 men have signed the Santa Claus Oath," explains Morrison. "Some Santas will be coming from New Jersey, New York state and Indiana. They are a group of men who do a lot of charity work."

The Santa Oath was written by a professional Santa, Phillip L. Wenz, and first dedicated in 2008.

It contains eight principles. Among them:

I will seek knowledge to be well versed in the mysteries of bringing Christmas cheer and good will to all the people that I encounter in my journeys and travels.

I shall be dedicated to hearing the secret dreams of both children and adults.

I acknowledge that some of the requests I will hear will be difficult and sad. I know in these difficulties there lies an opportunity to bring a spirit of warmth, understanding and compassion.

I know the "real reason for the season" and know that I am blessed to be able to be a part of it.

The Traveling Santa Claus Oath Ceremony has been to 35 cities in the United States, as well as Canada, Denmark, Great Britain and Australia.

"The oath was inspired by two men," Morrison explains. "Charles Howard had a Santa Claus school in Albion, N.Y. in the 1940s. Men would go there to learn to become Santas. It's not easy being Santa Claus. You have to know what to say and how to say it.

"The other man was Tom Yellig, who was the Santa Claus in Santa Claus, Ind."

Yellig was one of the best known Santas in the country and spent many decades at Santa Claus Land in Indiana, which opened in 1946. It was the first theme park in the country. (Disneyland would come nine years later.)

"The oath is really quite wonderful. It really inspires the men who are Santa," Morrison explains. "A lot of them do a lot of charity work, they really dedicate their lives to it."

The National Christmas Center will be open during the festival, with regular admission fees in effect. The festival is free.

Midsummer Yule Festival

Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Free

(admission to enter museum)

Grounds of the

National Christmas Center

3427 Lincoln Highway East

Paradise. 442-1714
www.nationalchristmascenter...