A man who’s played Santa Claus for the Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade says he learned days before the event from Facebook that someone else had been picked to ride the big sleigh.
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Santa Claus may be coming to town, but it was a different one who showed up in Plymouth, Massachusetts, over the weekend.
Frank McKenna was about to suit up for this year's Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade on Saturday — "All psyched, the suit's all clean" — for what would have been his third year in the starring role.
Then, he said, "my bubble burst."
Two days before the event, he saw on Facebook another man posting that he'd be the one riding the big red sleigh.
McKenna recalled saying "something like, 'There's a new Santa in town.'"
The 72-year-old was heartbroken.
"It was an embarrassing thing because I told all these people, 'Oh yeah, I'm the Santa in the parade,' and I guess not," McKenna said.
In a statement, America's Hometown Thanksgiving Parade organizers said they never heard from Frank this season and brought in someone else, writing in a statement, "In the last six years, we've featured four different volunteer Santas on our float. We appreciate all of the volunteers that make our event such a success."
"The thing that made me angry was not being told," McKenna said. "I didn't like that at all."
Frank hopes it really was just miscommunication.
He's been playing St. Nick for years at countless holiday events, but this one was one of his biggest shows.
He posted on social media about losing the top job and was so grateful that dozens of people replied it wouldn't be the same without him.
"That was incredible," he said.
Instead of shining in the parade, Frank sat back and watched it on television. It rained that day, and Frank admits that made him a little bit jolly.
"Karma's there," he said.
This isn't the end of the season for Frank. He's fully booked until Christmas Day, appearing as Santa at close to 20 events through the holiday.
