Behind the Scenes by John Miller – November 2023

I’m a Grinch! I have a lot more in common with Ebenezer Scrooge than Bob Cratchit. If I were in a Japanese monster movie I’d be Christmaszilla! I exaggerate (slightly), but when Shantel announced that she wanted to do a Santa’s Village at the Reif Center, I was not enthusiastic at first.

Shantel has wanted to do a Santa’s Village at the Reif Center for a long time. She says, “Santa’s Village is a festive kick-off to the holiday season. The focus is on children and seeing the wonder and excitement in their eyes this time of year. It’s fun to let the children choose their gifts for a parent or grandparent. When I first participated in an event like this many years ago, my 4 year old son chose a gravy boat for his dad. He heard the word ‘boat’ and he had to have that for his dad.”
Santa’s Village takes over the entire Reif Center. The heart of it is in the Ives Studio Theater where we set up the Kids Shoppe. This is where Santa’s Elves help each child pick out a gift for a loved one and have it wrapped. Mom and Dad can take a quick walk through then enjoy a cup of coffee and a cookie in the lobby while they wait.

In the lobby kids can take a picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus and get a cookie and lemonade from the café. In the theater classroom children can complete a craft project then head into the Wilcox Theater where Reif Dancers will greet everyone and pose for pictures on the Nutcracker set with the kids.

Greg has really taken Santa’s Village to heart. He’s a big thrift store fanatic and all year long he’s been buying up more Christmas inflatables and other surprises to make this year’s village even bigger and better.

[Editor’s note: This article was written by John Miller, Technical Director at the Reif Performing Arts Center in Grand Rapids. It is part of a series of monthly articles titled “Behind the Scenes”. All of his articles are available on the Reif Center’s website at https://www.reifcenter.org/reif-behind-the-scenes/. MACT would like to thank John and the Reif Center for allowing us to reprint this article. The Reif Center will be the location of MACT*Fest 2027.]