There was a lot going on downtown during Midnight Merriment on Dec. 6, but if you happened to duck into Red River Theatres, you ran into a totally rad Santa appearance – a Santa Dude appearance, to be exact.
Jeff Weber, one of Red River’s “amazing volunteers and members,” according to Angie Lane, events and marketing manager at the theater, was there dressed as Santa Dude in an homage to The Big Lebowski (we hope we didn’t just ruin Christmas for any young children by admitting that Santa Dude isn’t a real thing).
At left, Santa Dude spends a few minutes with Red River “beer guy” Mike Hogan and projectionist Mark Schiewetz (thanks to the theater for the photo).
Schiewetz’s appearance was no accident, either – he maintains the theater’s movie poster inventory all year, and Red River held its annual holiday movie poster sale during Midnight Merriment, as well.
As if that’s not enough, there was also a free hot chocolate bar – complete with mini marshmallows, Lane confessed – which is probably the thing we’re most disappointed we missed. But Santa Dude is a close second. While most will take their children to malls all across the land to visit with jolly old St. Nick, Red River’s Santa appearance is a little more our speed.
