Many yearly events have been cancelled due to covid-19. Some are still tentatively scheduled for the later months of the year, as organizers hope that American authorities and the populace alike will start treating the disease seriously enough to enact widespread testing, contact tracing, and mandatory restrictions.
That’s almost enough politics for now, though. This is the Owl, after all. It’s not about politics here. It’s a breather from the day’s events, a chance to relax before going to sleep or to start the day with something interesting. The reason politics is brought up at all is because of the mistake that can be made.
In 2009, George Trosset and his family decided to have a little fun on the morning of Christmas Eve. The group of them drove to nearby Cocoa Beach and took to the waves… but due to the time of year, their outfits weren’t the usual swimwear. Instead, Trosset was dressed as Santa, with his family decked out in elf gear.
Onlookers took photos and recorded video. A good time was had by all. People began to ask if he’d do it again.
Trosset returned to waveriding as Santa the next year, recruiting a few friends to join him dressed in holiday outfits. Word got around and some people they didn’t know arrived in some level of Santa or elf gear.
The reaction – particularly to the multiple Santas – was such that Trosset knew, the next year, that he’d had to do it yet again, but this time with a little bit of organization. Since then, every year, more Santa Clauses have arrived on Christmas Eve. It’s grown into an actual festival, with attendance of approximately 10,000 and about 1,000 surfers bedecked in Santa or elf colors, hats, and more. Money is raised for “Grind for Life”, a cancer-fighting charity.
One might reasonably wonder why I felt the need to raise the notion of politics at all. That’s because of an easy mistake to make, which is to confuse the Surfing Santas with the Santa Surfing Beach Broadcast.
The SSBB is a QAnon-style Trump-adoration group which promotes the conspiracy theory of NESARA, the National Economic Security and Reformation Act. It’s all very Deep State stuff, put in place long before Deep State was a thing. Clinton supposedly enacted it and the Supreme Court is said to have a gag order in place which allows law enforcement to kill anyone who dares to talk about it…. aaaand we’ll deal with NESARA another time, when I get back to writing the conspiracy columns.
For tonight, just remember: Santa Surfing Beach Broadcast – potentially dangerous nutjobs. Surfing Santas – goofy fun for lifesaving charity.
How goofy? I’ll let you decide for yourself. For many of the years, they’ve produced music videos to help promote the event.
Question of the night: have you ever been mistaken for someone else?
