COCOA BEACH.- Cocoa Beachwith its sand, its dunes y palm trees, bears little resemblance to the North Pole. But this December 24, thousands of Potatoes Noel they came to this playa of eastern Florida to have fun, celebrate y collaborate with a buena cause.
From early in the morning, the playa It is filling with men and women y children dressed as dad Noelelves or reindeer in a new edition of “Surfing Santas” (“Santas Surfers“), a festival that is celebrated every year in this town on the so-called Space Coast, south of Cape Canaveral.
The day is cloudy y 20 ºC is considered almost cold in Floridabut a handful of participants surf small waves in their Santa Claus. Some come out of the water shivering, as if it were really the North Pole.
Others observe them from the playa, they take bloody marys or enjoy costume contests y a Hawaiian dance show on stage.
Under a tent, dozens of volunteers sell T-shirts y raffle tickets to raise funds.
The objective of the event, apart from having a good time, is to support two local associations: Grind for Life, which financially helps cancer patients who need to travel far to receive treatment, y he Florida Surf Museum, a space dedicated to this sport.
“Make smile”
“Surfing Santas” was born in 2009 from a crazy vision by George Trosset. That year, this Cocoa resident Beach He saw an advertisement on television for a car where several people dressed as Dad Noel They took surfboards out of their trunks y They threw themselves into the sea.
Inspired by that image, he went to a thrift store with his wife, bought an old red coat, tailored it to look like Santa Claus y went out surfing. Next to him were his son, dressed as an elf, y their three-year-old grandson, who was watching them from the shore.
A local photographer captured that moment y He published the image in the press.
“The second year there were 19 Santas. The third, 80. Y Now look at this, there are thousands of people here,” says Trosset, 70. “It’s exciting to see what this absurd little thing has become.”
Teresa Dell’Oglio-Garrett, an Italian who lives 15 km from Cocoa Beachgoes to the party for the second time to enjoy “the camaraderie y the happiness”.
The first, in 2017, there were few people, nothing like the crowd gathered this morning at the playaremember.
Trosset still can’t understand how a little joke with his son y his grandson became this celebration.
When hundreds of people started joining the party, he thought maybe he could use the momentum to do something good, y This is how the charitable part of the event was born.
“I’m very grateful that a lot of people like what we do,” says this retiree. “The Potatoes Noel surfers They make people smile. I’m told we get millions of media impressions each year. Y If that’s true, then we create millions of smiles every year. Y “That makes my heart happy.”
Source: AFP
