Tallest Santa in Pennsylvania (Cold Stream Park)

Every Christmas season a plywood Santa Claus about 37 feet tall goes up beside U.S. Route 322 at Cold Stream Dam in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, and locals treat its arrival as the start of the holidays. The Centre County Encyclopedia of History & Culture calls it a beloved tradition in the county.

Local artist Billy Adams designed and painted it as a project of American Legion Post 437. A Philipsburg Elks volunteer who helped restore it told GantNews that Adams built it in sections in the Legion basement from plywood with 2×4 backing, and chose 37 feet because he graduated in 1937. The Santa first appeared in 1962, though the same volunteer dates the building to 1959. Its arm originally waved at passing traffic. The display includes six toy soldiers, each about nine feet tall counting their guns, and a toy bag that the Encyclopedia gives as 16 feet tall and GantNews as 17. WJAC described the Santa as nearly forty feet tall; the Centre Daily Times gave 37½ feet.