At the five-day trade show, Kris Kringle impersonators attended workshops on makeup and marketing, beard care and Santa ethics. More than 550 Santas answered a survey about playing the jolly old elf.

Some complained that 2024's Santa did not have a real beard and that the Great Hall's ... "We've worked positively with Santa and his elf office in Lapland for many years in our other museums ...

By this time of year, the town of Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland -- marketed by tourism officials since the 1980s as the "real" home of Santa Claus ... and long white beard, resting his weary ...