‘Wild’ memories of Santa’s Village

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

EAST DUNDEE — Christopher Dearman loved the Fire Truck Ride at Santa’s Village. He loved sitting in the back of the real firetruck. He loved shooting water at the house engulfed in flames.

He could have ridden that firetruck all day, every summer that his family would drive up to the theme park from Elgin, he said. It was “pure joy,” as he described.

Dearman said he felt that same joy when he turned 16, when he got his driver’s license, when he was finally able to drive that truck as a “Ride-O” at Santa’s Village. At least, he did until he got behind the wheel of the Fire Truck Ride and learned one of the park’s four trucks didn’t have brakes.

That’s just one of the wild memories of working for two seasons at the theme park that Dearman shares in his book “Santa’s Village — Gone Wild!”

The book, out now through Axcreations Publishing, is more than just Dearman’s memories. Subtitled “Tales of summer fun, hijinks and debauchery as told by the people who worked there,” it also includes memories, history and urban legends from the former employees of Santa’s Village (which closed in 2006), including those of legendary Santa Claus Phil Wenz.

Those tales include the Ferris wheel, which Dearman wrote would start to rotate backward and spew smoke if it held too much weight or if that weight wasn’t distributed properly. And that pretty much all the game operators, known as callers, skimmed part of the money guests handed over for the chance to win a prize.

Some of it is frightening and some profane. But there’s also first loves and crushes. And all of it, Dearman said, is “really a love letter to the place.”

“But kids that are 16, 17 — there’s going to be a lot of hijinks,” he added.

The author, who now lives in Huntley, said he got the idea about two years ago when he was checking Facebook. People he had worked with at the theme park — some still are friends, some he hadn’t talked to in about 20 years — came up.

And, he said, “All these funny stories started coming back to me at once.”

Dearman sat down at his computer and, within half an hour, had gotten down a list of 20 stories from his summers spent working at the park. Surely, all those other people must have one or two stories as well, he said.

They did. So many, in fact, that Dearman said he may write a second volume if “Santa’s Village — Gone Wild!” is successful. Since his book was finished, other former park workers have contacted him with their stories, and the theme park has started a new chapter with the opening of the AZoosement Park on the property this fall.

Dearman said he has a book about his wild days at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in the works as well.

“I happen to do some crazy stuff — some embarrassing stuff — so I thought I’d put it out there,” he said. “If you can’t laugh at yourself, what can you” laugh at?

“Santa’s Village — Gone Wild!” is available for purchase at santasvillagegonewild.com. It should hit Amazon.com in the next week and stores by next year, Dearman said.