By Noah Crenshaw | For The Tribune 

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One by one, children waited in line with anticipation.

Accompanied by their parents, relatives and caregivers, they looked at the decorated trees on the second floor of the Johnson County Museum of History in Franklin. Then it was time for them to move forward — and time for their photo with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

This scenario occurred over and over again on Dec. 2 as families stopped at the county museum to have their photos taken with the couple from the North Pole. Over a few hours, Santa and Mrs. Claus posed for photos and asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas.

For the Jennings County husband and wife portraying the Christmas couple, this is their favorite part. Ken Everroad and his wife, Patti, have appeared as Santa and Mrs. Claus for the last 30 years at events across Indiana and even as far as Virginia.

The Everroads’ faces are familiar around the Franklin area. They’ve appeared in the Downtown Holiday Lighting parade, the Franklin Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Saturday Open House, events at Crane Credit Union and more. For the last several years, they’ve appeared for the county museum’s Pictures with Santa events as the holiday’s icons.

Instead of accepting money for their appearances, the couple donates it to charity. In a typical year, they donate about $2,500 to an average of six to eight charities, including Shriners, Pinehaven Christian Children’s Ranch and School, Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent, Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Patti Everroad said.

“We say that 100% of what we take in — we do it on a donation basis — 100% is given to charity,” she said.

The Everroads make it clear on both their business cards and when they do bookings about what they do. After Christmas has passed, Patti sends a letter to all of the charities about the amount and what they do. They also send confirmation to the people who booked them, she said.

“For every one of the bookings that we have, I then as well give them a letter and say, ‘Your donations this year went to the following charities,’” she said.

Sometimes, they don’t get paid for the bookings, so they dip into their own funds to make donations, they said.

Their journey to becoming Santa and Mrs. Claus began around 1993. A neighbor needed a Santa for a Christmas party but couldn’t find one, so they asked Ken about taking on the mantle of the holiday icon. He said sure and made the appearance.

When he was leaving, the neighbor tried to give him $50 for his efforts. Ken refused.

“I said, ‘Well, you don’t owe me anything for this,’” he said. “‘You fed me. We had we had a good time because we knew just about everybody that was there.’”

The neighbor said it was what he charged the other Santa and that Ken could do whatever he wanted with it, so he opted to give it to charity.

“What we started doing was we took that money and sent it to a children’s charity,” Ken said.

Initially, it was just Ken as Santa. Sometime after he first began appearing as Santa, Patti decided to portray Mrs. Claus, she said.

Now retired from working at Cummins Inc., and in Patti’s case also working as a teacher, the couple suits up every winter for another stint as the Christmas couple. There have even been times when Ken was identified as Santa when he was not wearing the typical garb.

He recalled a time when they were in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on vacation when a young boy ran up toward him. He thought the kid was running toward his parents, but the kid had other plans.

“He ran up in front of me and stopped and put his hands on his hips and he said, ‘Santa, what are you doing in Gatlinburg?’” Ken said. “And I got down and looked him in the eye and I said, ‘Well, I’m here on vacation just like you.’ He said, ‘OK,’ and spun around. He was gone just as quick as he showed up.”

Another such instance happened while shopping at the former Columbus mall. Ken had already bleached his beard white for the season and was out shopping with his wife when a little boy sat next to him and asked if he was a real Santa.

There had been a Santa at the mall taking pictures, but that Santa was “a phony” because he had fake hair and a fake beard, the child told Ken. He responded by asking the child how they knew his beard was real and told them to try to pull it.

So the young boy did.

“He shot up off that bench and went running down the mall going, ‘Mom, I found a real Santa. I found a real Santa, mama,’” Ken said.

Three decades into portraying the famous North Pole couple, the Everroads say the kids and the memories are what keep them doing this each year. There are so many stories and memories, Patti said.

“Once you get us going on some of our memories, it’s like we sometimes can’t stop,” she said.

“We enjoy kids, and of course, to see a smile on their face when they see Santa and the hope that they might get what they’re asking for,” Ken added.