Honoring Fort Wayne’s Favorite Santa
For decades, families in Fort Wayne and surrounding counties would make the yearly trek to Wolf & Dessauer to visit THE Santa Claus, Phil Steigerwald. He was most well known for being the longtime Santa Claus at the historic Wolf & Dessauer department store in downtown Fort Wayne for over 40 years and was inducted into the International Santa Hall of Fame in 2023. After his death in 2004, Steigerwald’s family donated his Santa suit and many other objects and images from his tenure as Fort Wayne’s Favorite Santa, which are nostalgically shared with visitors to the Festival of Gingerbread each year.
On Thursday, December 4 at 10:30 am, the History Center hosted Fort Wayne City Council President Geoff Paddock who read a proclamation from Mayor Sharon Tucker honoring Phil Steigerwald. To mark the occasion, other local and state elected officials joined members of the Steigerwald family to celebrate his memory and legacy as “Santa in Wonderland.”
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