A giant inflatable Santa has been stolen from its home at a family-owned Christmas tree farm in Phoenix.
The 40-foot tall and 20-foot wide Father Christmas was taken from Kraemer’s Tree Lots between Saturday night and early Sunday morning, AZ Family news reports.
A post on the farm’s Facebook page read: “This one hurts. Our giant inflatable Santa was stolen from our tree lot.
“He’s part of what makes the season special for families who visit us. If anyone has info, please reach out—we’d love him back!!”
One of the family members, Kyle Kramer, told AZ Family the Santa was a popular attraction for families taking photos.
“People know it is Santa’s tree lot,” he said, adding that the thieves cut into the fence to access the inflatable and marks on the gravel show the decoration was likely deflated and dragged out.
“Who steals Santa? I mean, it’s Christmas time,” he said, adding if the thieves inflate it the decoration would be easily recognized in the area.
Kramer also expressed his surprise that people were able to steal the huge Santa, “it’d take a lot of people. Our four guys, they had trouble putting it up.”
Security footage is currently being reviewed by neighbours to try help identify the thieves. One neighbour, Yesenia Feliciano who lived near the tree lot said her security cameras showed the Santa present about 7pm on Saturday but was gone by 6.45am the next day.
Her cameras did not capture the actual theft and Phoenix police are investigating.
Kraemer’s website says the tree lot was established in 1982 after a family member thought it would be a good idea to sell a few extra trees from the farm.
“We sell four varieties of Christmas Trees that are locally grown at our family farm in Mount Angel, OR. The trees take anywhere from 4-15 years to grow,” the website said.
Images of the giant blow-up Santa waving above the trees feature throughout the website.
Christmas decoration thefts are not out of the ordinary. In December 2022, footage revealed a real-life Grinch caught on CCTV stealing an inflatable snowman from a Christmas display on a porch.
The video shows a woman unplugging and taking the snowman away from Blue Ridge Heating and Air’s business premises in South Carolina.
