Christmas carols exclaim that Santa Claus is coming to town, but for the city of Cloverdale, Santa Claus has been in town for almost two decades.
Cloverdale local John Turner has been dressing up as Santa Claus for the Cloverdale Lions Club Toy Run and holiday events like tree lighting ceremonies for nearly 25 years, and he’s as excited as ever to dress up again this year.
Each holiday season on the first Sunday of December, the Cloverdale Lions Club holds a special toy drive at the Cloverdale Citrus Fair. The event started in the late ‘90s, about 23 years ago. This year the event will be on Dec. 5.
Turner, who inherited his red Santa suit from a fellow Lions Club member, started dressing up for the Toy Run about 22 years ago.
Turner, now 71, said he decided to get involved with the toy run because it’s a fun event for all.
“I get to ride my motorcycle with a Santa Claus outfit. That’s what it’s all about,” he said. “We started it with a bunch of motorcycle people, and with some help from some other clubs, and a lot of people on motorcycles came in with an unwrapped new toys and that’s pretty much how it started. It’s always been at the Cloverdale Citrus Fair.”
For the price of a $10 entrance fee and the donation of a new, unwrapped toy, folks can get a free lunch. There’s also live music at the event, a no-host bar, a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle.
The event though is famous for the Santa Claus ride, which is led by Turner. Depending on the weather, between 200 and 300 motorcyclists ride from Cloverdale down to Healdsburg to Lytton Springs over to Dry Creek Road and back up Dutcher Creek Road to Cloverdale.
“It’s pretty fun. There’s a lot of motorcycles and a lot of people involved in it,” he said. Turner’s own motorcycle is a green Harley Davidson. He said he’s been a motorcycle enthusiast for his entire life.
Pickup trucks haul away toys after collection, and other services clubs, such as the Kiwanis Club, help with sorting and wrapping the toys.
“Once they day is over, we load all of the toys into pickup trucks and take them to a place in Cloverdale where they separate them by gender and age and then they wrap them up and label them. Then we disperse them throughout the city and also in Geyserville and Hopland,” Turner said.
He said last year for the COVID-style drive-thru toy run they were able to fill up three pickup trucks worth of toys. In 2018, the club received about $11,000 worth of toys.
“We have a lot of toys, it’s pretty amazing. We get bicycles coming in strapped onto a motorcycle and all kinds of really nice stuff for kids,” Turner said.
In years past the club has also donated toys to fire victims. After the Camp Fire in Paradise in 2018, they delivered toys to those who lost everything, and following the 2017 fires they delivered toys to Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, an area that was hit hard by the Tubbs Fire.
The Santa Claus ride starts at noon Sunday, Dec. 5. When the riders arrive back at the fairgrounds around quarter to 1 or 1 p.m. lunch is served and the other festivities commence. Check in for the event is around 11 a.m. and the ride starts at 12 p.m.
Turner said his favorite part about dressing up as Santa is getting to ride his motorcycle as Santa Claus. He also enjoys getting to interact with families and kids.
“When you go out in the crowd with the Santa suit people like to get their picture taken with me,” he said.
Turner has two sons and several grandkids, and he said they’ve attended the event in the past. Other motorcycle riders also like to bring their family, kids or grandkids, some of whom even ride on the back of the motorcycle.
“It’s really very fun. People are happy — they come here for a good cause, and it’s nice to be able to give the community something,” Turner said.
Turner grew up in Sacramento and moved to Cloverdale in the 1980s and has been in the Cloverdale Lions Club since 1985. Even before the Lions Club started their annual toy run, Turner was dressing up as Santa for tree lighting ceremonies and other holiday events.
“I’ve played Santa for more than just the toy run because I have a white beard and I got a little belly on me. I’ve done the tree lighting downtown. We do a tree lighting ceremony early in December downtown in the plaza and they have a little Santa house there and the kids sit on my lap and tell me what they want for Christmas. It’s very cool,” he said. “It’s a big deal and it is a festive occasion.”
The Cloverdale Winter Festival takes place on Dec. 3 from 4:30 to 8 p.m. in downtown Cloverdale. In addition to a tree lighting ceremony, there will be live music, food and wine and a gingerbread cookie decorating activity for kids.
