Following a dispute over county government policies that threatened to dampen this year's holiday cheer, it appears The Santa House has found a new home this year at Civic Plaza in downtown Steamboat Springs.
"I just got confirmation that we indeed are officially going to move Santa over to Civic Plaza," Steamboat Springs City Council member Steve Muntean said late Friday morning.
Routt County commissioner Sonja Macys said the issue erupted last week after representatives from Main Street Steamboat showed up at the commissioners' offices and demanded a meeting outside of the commissioners' normal Monday and Tuesday meetings.
She said the representatives were upset and accused the commissioners of denying The Santa House from being placed on the courthouse lawn. Macys stressed that was not the case, and that those representatives had not even applied for a permit.
When those representatives left without meeting with the commissioners, they went to Steamboat Radio to air their grievances. Macys said there were inaccuracies in the radio station's reporting and the commissioners responded in a letter.
"I am writing on behalf of the Routt County Board of County Commissioners to follow up on recent communications and media reports about the use of the courthouse lawn for Santa's House. We find it unfortunate that Main Street Steamboat and Steamboat Radio have created the impression that the County "denied" Santa's House," the letter stated. "That is not accurate."
Macys said the county commissioners were working on a solution for Main Street Steamboat, and had the representatives chosen to come and speak with the commissioners they would have learned the county was working with the city on moving The Santa House to Civic Plaza.
Muntean is a non-voting member of Main Street Steamboat board, but said he missed last month's city council meeting when the matter was discussed and was not aware of the issues until after the story was made public.
When the newspaper reached Muntean on Friday, before an official decision had been made, he said there had been ongoing discussions about putting Santa's House at Civic Plaza and that Main Street Steamboat and the council were both supportive of the idea.
At that time, he said council was waiting to make the announcement until it was confirmed that the surface of the plaza could handle the weight of The Santa House and that the placement of the structure would not cause damage to the plaza, which was completed in January.
Macys said the placement of displays, including The Santa House, on the courthouse lawn is not a new issue and that she reached out to the city council member about the issue of The Santa's House with hopes of moving the event off the courthouse lawn.
She said the issue came to a head last week when members of Main Street Steamboat arrived at the courthouse unhappy that they could only leave the Santa House on the lawn after the "Light Up the Night" holiday kickoff party.
"I've been explaining to people that anybody can request a use of the courthouse lawn, and there are the guidelines and here's the process," Macys said. "We consider all requests equally and fairly, and that's all we're doing with Santa ... we were never pushing Santa out of downtown."
Macys said the idea that The Santa House has been on the lawn for the past 20 years, as reported, is also not accurate, adding that the Santa House has had a place on the lawn of the Routt County Courthouse off and on over the years. However, its placement at that location has not been without controversy.
The display was on the courthouse lawn in 2008, and then again in 2010, before moving to Ski Town Properties in 2011. To the best of her knowledge, Macys said the display returned 2012 when Main Street Steamboat hosted its first "Light Up the Night " holiday kickoff event to ring in the holiday season in downtown Steamboat Springs.
It remained at that location in 2013 and 2014 before a group wanting to place a menorah on the lawn was told no, because the county would not allow "religious" symbols.
Because of the dispute, the house was moved across the street to a location in front of Bank of the West (now BMO) from 2014 to 2019. Because of COVID-19, holiday events were put on hold in 2020 and while the county allowed the house to returned to the courthouse lawn from 2021-24 it is unclear if the house net the county's policy.
The letter from the commissioners went on to clarify a main point Macys felt was important: "Our current policy does not allow for ongoing, unattended structures or displays to remain on the lawn for extended periods when no active event is taking place. Under our policy, the lawn is available for use during active, approved public events. Main Street remains fully eligible to host The Santa House on the lawn during such an event."
The commissioners also invited Main Street Steamboat to submit a request for that use under the policy to ensure fairness, transparency, and consistency for all organizations and community members who wish to the use county property.
"Honestly, it went from looking at a policy and asking them to revise their programming to now we're at war with Santa, and that we support some groups, but not other groups," said Macys, who noted the county has a clear policy on use of the courthouse lawn and the guidelines that those applying must follow.
As of Friday, county staff said that Main Street Steamboat has not applied for any permits, but they could still do so for the "Light Up the Night" holiday kickoff party that normally happens on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
"We're just getting an increasing number of requests and unfortunately it puts our staff in a challenging position when it comes to questions of politics or religion," Macys said. "We want it to be abundantly clear to them that here are the things to consider, this is how you apply the application evenly and fairly and if there are questions bring them to us. Typically, we're not even involved in these kinds of facilities questions, but there's been enough gray area that they have been put in a very difficult situation."