Fairfield's Mrs. Claus brings joy to children for 25 years: 'Now I get to be everybody's grandma'

FAIRFIELD — Being Santa's right-hand lady is a job of crucial importance, something Colleen Roche knows well.

Roche, a Department of Public Works employee, has filled the role for the town for 25 years. Since then she's helped create countless family memories — including a proposal — and brought cheer to children throughout the area. Though she became Mrs. Claus in 1997, she said it was her life's dream to play a character.

"It was a Disney character or sports mascot dream of mine always — to just be out and acting goofy," she said. "When this opportunity for a female Santa role was offered by the town, I was very, very excited that they gave me that chance and I grabbed it with both hands. It was exciting."

Since then, Roche has gone to various Santa schools and training programs, including Santa Camp, a training program run by the New England Santa Society in the woods of New Hampshire, which was featured in an HBO documentary released this year. Viewers can catch a glimpse of Roche in the film.

Roche said she did not know what to expect when she first went, but found it to be a comprehensive, immersive training.

"It's three days of a bunch of people like me — obsessed with Christmas and portraying the best Claus character or elf you can be," she said. "We compare notes and we have these great teachers who are professional Santas. It's not going up there and just hanging around and BS'ing about Santa Claus. It's learning about how to talk to kids, how to approach kids with special needs or disabilities. It's the greatest thing."

Roche said she goes every year because there is always something new to learn.

"There's more you can do with the role than just going up to light a tree," she said. "I get to do all manner of things with this character for two months out of the year. It's really awesome."

Roche said she started out by riding the firetruck with Santa, noting that was thrilling in itself, but grew to gigs such as doing breakfast with Santa at Fairfield Ludlowe High School. She said she really enjoys those one-on-one jobs, adding she loves being an elderly woman from the North Pole who comes down to visit the good children of Connecticut.

"Since then, I've done the Fairfield Firefighters Charitable Foundation's three day Santa Express Run, where they raise money for the Tommy Fund," she said. "I've been doing that for a few years with the firemen. They usually have Santas doing house to house visits. They're flying all over Fairfield in the firetruck. It's crazy and I get to go in one of the trucks."

This year alone, Roche said she has participated in more than a dozen gigs as Mrs. Claus, including the lighting of the Fairfield and Shelton town trees, the Christmas market at Sport Hill Farm in Easton and the Mrs. Claus’ story time workshop at the Shore and Country Club in Norwalk.

Through that, Roche said, she has gotten to visit many different families, adding the work is like improv.

"You're running out. You don't know who your audience is and you just have to run," she said. "Do I have adults? Do I have infants? It's very fun."

Roche said she has improved a lot since she first started playing Mrs. Claus. So has her costume. Her first outfit was just a smock with an apron that the Department of Parks and Recreation lent her. Soon after that, she said, her mom made her a beautiful dress with all the bells and whistles. She said she has since found a custom vendor that makes great dresses.

"I'm always trying to up it, up it, up it and make it exciting," she said.

The role of Mrs. Claus needs constant polishing, Roche said, such as changing how she words things. For instance, instead of asking if a child has been good, she now asks if they have been nice.

"We need more nice kids than we need good kids," she said, noting she is involved in online groups where they talk about the craft all year.

Along with all that, Roche said she feels a lot more confident and outgoing in the role compared to when she started. She said she has so many great memories from her career as the First Lady of the North Pole, later adding she wants to do this for as long as she is physically able.

"Angelus Papageorge (Fairfield Public School's executive director of operations) does a big house lighting for Christmas every year," she said. "A couple of years ago, one of the Papageorges proposed with Santa and me there, and I cried."

Another memory Roche said she is fond of was when they were coming down Old Post Road on a firetruck for the tree lighting. She said she was in front of the Burr Homestead when they passed a little girl standing with her parents.

"She wasn't looking at Santa. She was looking at me and she waved her little pink mitten," she said. "I always remember her little hand. That isn't really the greatest story, but I just remember her little face with her dazzled eyes. You put that dress on, and you become Mrs. Claus from the minute you come down stairs until you get home. I wasn't able to have children, and now I get to be everybody's grandma."

Josh LaBella

Fairfield Citizen News - December 19, 2022