Portland's 'Santa Clones' come to life in a new brew

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – The ‘Santa Clones’ who mysteriously appeared in Portland over the holidays are almost back for their 14th year and they’re bringing a festive holiday drink!

Hundreds of vintage Santa Claus figurines from the 1960s will appear at a secret location sometime this month thanks to the work of artist Chris Willis. Before he sets up this year’s special exhibit, however, some statues appeared at Gigantic Brewing in SE Portland on Friday evening. They were there to celebrate the launch of Gigantic Brewing and Weird Portland United’s toast to Christmas magic with the new ‘Santa Clones Winter Warmer’.

Described as a malty, rich brew with a layer of caramel and a hint of dark fruit for a cozy and festive atmosphere, the drink pays tribute to the Santa Clones that have been popping up in Portland during the holidays for more than a decade.

Willis said he started the tradition after being inspired by his family.

“My grandmother had the big Santa blow molds when I was a kid growing up, so I always loved the shine of those, so one year in 2010 I thought, ‘How many of those Santas can I get from the little Santas and put them up?’ somewhere out there?’ And so it was just a spontaneous fun idea inspired by the terracotta warriors in China, the repetition, the same kind of clay figures being buried, so that kind of gave me that idea of ’Hey, little lighted Santas would be cool,'” Willis explained .

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Willis went to e-BAY to find the Santas, of which he now has 450 and now places them in a secret location every year.

This year’s location hasn’t been announced yet, but if you’re interested in a teaser, Willis has set up a third of his collection at Gigantic Brewing for the beer launch party on Friday night, but the statue will be there all weekend.

Willis said the more people love Santa, the more he enjoys doing it.

“I’ll keep doing it as long as I enjoy it. I really get a kick out of how much people enjoy it and how it has become a tradition that they look forward to. And there are a lot of times like COVID where this does a lot of good for people and it’s good to get this out. It doesn’t take much effort for me. It’s been there all December and I’ll keep doing it. I think Portland is the perfect place for me to do this,” said Willis.

As for when and where the entire Santa collection will be on display, you’ll have to follow the directions Willis posts on his Instagram page.