Santa’s Enchanted Forest could be back for Christmas in 2020 if county mayor agrees

Santa’s Enchanted Forest officially lost its home at Tropical Park just before the coronavirus crisis hit Miami-Dade, but the popular winter carnival sees the pandemic as a chance to provide a happy ending over the holidays.

On March 5, the county’s Parks Department ordered the festival to clear out of its 37-year home at the suburban park after Santa’s lease expired without an option to renew.

The administration of Mayor Carlos Gimenez was already looking for replacement operators of the site, with plans for a new light display there to try to extend one of Miami’s best-known holiday traditions.

Now Santa’s Enchanted Forest is using the coronavirus crisis as a reason for Miami-Dade to return the event to its longtime home.

In an April letter to county commissioners released Tuesday, owner Steven Shechtman asked board members to look forward six months in a pandemic “that has changed life as we know it.”

“Our community will finally be heading outdoors and living the new normal,” he wrote. “The holidays will be upon us and Santa’s will be the leading venue for families, friends and charitable organizations to venture out safely to a joyful evening.”

Miami-Dade commissioners on May 5 approved a resolution asking Gimenez to consider waiving bid rules and allowing Santa’s Enchanted Forest to have a one-year extension on its lease. Gimenez said he would negotiate a deal in “good faith.” even though he’s not a fan of the annual event.

“I’ve been there with my grandchildren. To be honest with you, the experience wasn’t the greatest.”

Gimenez said he doubted the coronavirus pandemic would allow Santa’s to return in a form that would make financial sense. While bans on large gatherings could ease enough by December to allow Santa’s to welcome visitors to a holiday light show, Gimenez said it’s “highly unlikely” rules would relax enough to allow amusement park rides there.

“You may be able to walk through and see the lights,” he said. “There’s no way you’re going to be able to get on rides that multiple people are touching all the time.”

In April 28 letter to commissioners, Shechtman said the event would follow industry guidelines to keep visitors safe from coronavirus spread and pledged to pay rent even if local rules didn’t allow large gatherings by the time Santa’s is supposed to open.

Commissioner Joe Martinez sponsored the resolution instructing Gimenez to negotiate a 2020 agreement with the Santa’s. “Amid these tough times we are facing,” Martinez said in a statement, “let’s give our community the opportunity to enjoy the magic of Christmas for one more year.”

Santa’s Enchanted Forest says it can open in 2020

Santa’s hasn’t offered details on how a crowded festival with a reported attendance topping 1 million could handle what health experts predict will be an extended period of social distancing and limits on large groups.

A Santa’s spokeswoman said safety details would come later, in line with whatever framework health authorities and local governments approve for large events. For now, the message is aimed at linking Santa’s Enchanted Forest with a return to normalcy.

“This town needs happy,” said Maritza Gutierrez, who handles publicity and ad-buying for Santa’s and has been active in the lobbying push at the County Commission. “We deserve Christmas.”

Nostalgia has been Santa’s weapon of choice against an effort by the Gimenez administration to find a year-round operator at much higher rent that could modernize the 16 acres of parkland the festival has rented through a lease first signed in 1992. A draft request for proposals Miami-Dade circulated earlier in the year calls for creating a “park within a park” to include event space for large events that would include a holiday lights festival, as well as playing fields and new buildings.

That effort appears to be on hold. Parks director Maria Nardi said the county itself would like to put on a light show at the Santa’s site this winter, rather than rush to get a new operator selected in time for the 2020 holiday season.

Other operators are eager to move in. Alexis Mantecon, an owner of the Wharf entertainment spot on the Miami River, is ready to compete for the Santa’s site with a year-round schedule of happenings, including a winter lights festival. “We think we could do a phenomenal job,” he said.

At an April 20 committee meeting, a lobbyist for a Miami company that puts on its own elaborate light displays urged commissioners to be wary about allowing Santa’s Enchanted Forest to return during the coronavirus pandemic.

“There’s a new paradigm that must be considered,” said Jose Felix Diaz, who represents the company Miami Christmas Lights but said his comments weren’t related to his client. “The previous days of going to a theme park and relying on hand sanitizer are long gone.”

Gutierrez said it’s too early to map out how a 2020 Santa’s Enchanted Forest would respond to coronavirus precautions but that the event is banking on an environment allowing people to gather again. “We think we’ll be back to a normal with different restrictions in place,” she said.

In his letter, Shechtman offered to boost rent and fees by about 25 percent to nearly $1 million a year. He also offered to make the 2020 event a thank you to front-line pandemic workers, with free opening night admission to firefighters, police, doctors, nurses and supermarket employees.

“There are many South Florida heroes that have stepped up during this pandemic,” he wrote, “and with the help of Miami-Dade’s Commissioners and Mayor, Santa’s can too.”

This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 6:00 AM.