When one thinks of past Christmases in Litchfield, two things might spring to mind: the lights and greenery that decorate the highway and Floyd Warta as Santa Claus. While the nostalgic lights are still with us, it has been many years since children lined up to visit Santa Warta.
Floyd Warta was born and raised in Watertown, Minnesota. For a time after graduating from high school, Warta was what he called a “glorified bum,” a man without a full-time job, not sure where he was headed in life.
Eventually, Warta found teaching, and the rest, as they say, was history. Warta’s first and only teaching job was in Litchfield. He was hired in 1937 and continued teaching until his retirement in 1971. Coincidentally, his wife, Pennie, had previously taught third grade in Litchfield. She then moved to Watertown where she and Floyd met. They married in 1938 and would go on to have two children, Jon and Linda.
While Warta taught English and Speech, it was his drama teaching that seems to be most remembered. For a teacher who directed dozens of plays over the years, you might think he grew up in the theater, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, his first play was in high school where he had the lead part. In an oral history at the Museum, Warta admitted his teenaged-self was looking forward to kissing his co-star and was very disappointed when she ducked out of the way and his lips met the top of her head. After that, he was happy to let the lead role go to someone else. It wasn’t until he came to Litchfield that he started directing.
1972 was a big year for Warta. He retired from teaching the year before and had embarked on his Santa career, appearing in print and TV ads for Arctic Cat snowmobiles. In Litchfield that year, he helped kick off the holiday season, arriving as Santa in a helicopter. He then rode a firetruck to Central Park for time with the kids.
For the next several years, Warta played Santa to the local children. The kids would line up by the hundreds to sit on Santa’s lap and share their holiday wish list. Not wanting to admit to any long-kept secrets, the local newspaper simply reported that Santa had a strong resemblance to Floyd Warta.
Another major holiday advertising campaign Warta was part of was in 1984 for Mr. Donut. The Star Tribune published a photo of Warta sitting next to Ole, a reindeer from the Minnesota Zoo. The reindeer and zoo were paid $200 for their participation. There was no report on what Warta received. The advertising, which was for Mr. Donut’s Christmas cookies, would be displayed in hundreds of stores as well as in newspapers.
Floyd Warta died in 1986 at the age of 80, leaving behind a legacy of education, theater, and holiday joy.