Two 14-foot Santas that once adorned a downtown Bloomington department store each winter will get a much-needed facelift in 2024.
The McLean County Museum of History announced plans to restore the 1940s-era Livingston’s Santas, placed annually atop the department store’s awnings in the 100 block of west Washington Street for the holidays. College Hills Mall purchased the Santas from Livingston’s when the store closed in 1979 and displayed them for a few years; they were subsequently bought and showcased by Jeffery Alan Wandell at his garden and home décor shops in Normal and Champaign.
Wandell had his Santas in storage for more than a decade when they became too fragile to display. He gifted them to the museum with a $10,000 donation toward the $85,000 price tag estimated for the restoration and ongoing care of the fiberglass statues. It is the largest project preserving a physical artifact the museum’s taken on.
Local sculptor Andrew Jumonville has been selected to complete the “Saving Santa” restoration, which is scheduled to be finished by the 2024 holiday season. The museum is in talks with officials to create public display space in Downtown Bloomington and Uptown Normal for the statues, rotating other artworks to fill Santa's spot for the rest of the year.
