World's Largest Santa Claus

North Pole, Alaska, United States

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Big Santa is a fiberglass Santa Claus statue outside Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska. KUAC reported in 2017 that it was built in 1968 at a plastics-fabrication company in Enumclaw, Washington, came to North Pole from Seattle by way of Anchorage in the early 1980s, and was put up there in 1984. KUAC also reported plans to move it about 140 feet to the southwest for a gift-shop expansion. In 2026 Alaska's News Source reported a paint refresh and fiberglass repairs; it gave the height as 42 feet.

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World's Largest Santa Claus

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Site-level location · 64.7546° N, 147.3431° W

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The story

A Santa Claus built in Washington state in 1968 now stands outside a gift shop in North Pole, Alaska.

KUAC reported in 2017, citing the Santa Claus House operations manager, that Big Santa was built in 1968 at a plastics-fabrication company in Enumclaw, Washington. It spent years as a giant Christmas decoration in the Seattle area before being shipped to Anchorage, where the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce set it up near the federal building downtown during the holidays. By the late 1970s the chamber had apparently lost interest and put it in storage. KUAC says Santa Claus House, whose founder opened the original shop in 1952, bought the statue from the chamber for $4,500 in 1978, brought it to North Pole in 1983 and put it up in 1984.

KUAC reported that the statue had to be cut into four pieces to haul it north. It says a snowstorm in 1985 tore off one of its arms.

Reports differ on size. KUAC gave the height as nearly 50 feet in 2017 and a weight of more than 25 tons, though the same report says the fiberglass statue itself weighs about 900 pounds and is fixed to a 50,000-pound concrete base. Alaska's News Source gave 42 feet in 2026 and described the figure as made of fiberglass with steel mesh, weighing around 900 pounds.

KUAC also reported a plan to move the statue, which had to be lifted along with its concrete base, about 140 feet to the southwest for a gift-shop expansion and to give photographers a spot away from the frontage road. In September 2026 Alaska's News Source reported a refresh of the statue's paint and repairs to some of its fiberglass, the first major maintenance since 2000, and said the project was substantially completed.

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