Santa Claus visits Pacific Coast Air Museum

Move over, Rudolph. So long, sleigh.

Santa’s got a new way to zip around Sonoma County. It’s a shiny blue helicopter.

St. Nick showed it off Saturday to hundreds of kids and their parents who converged on the Pacific Coast Air Museum for the annual fly-in.

They watched the jolly old man circle the field, waving from the cockpit, before landing and settling in for some chair time.

“That’s Santa!” yelled 3-year-old Neil Campbell as he sat on his father Derek’s shoulders. “And there’s his elf!”

Gray skies and a slight drizzle didn’t dampen spirits at the popular event, held at the museum near the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport.

People lined up for more than an hour before the museum doors opened, hoping to get the first crack at sitting on Santa’s lap and whispering into his ear.

Erik Martin, 7, and his brother Thomas, 4, waited with their parents for what has become a tradition in their Santa Rosa family.

Erik, a Yulupa Elementary School student, has watched Santa fly into the museum five years in a row.

“I get to see the helicopter landing in front of me,” said the excited Santa Rosa kid. “It’s like watching the best show.”

Logan Marlar, 8, also of Santa Rosa, was among the first in line. The third-grader at Schaefer Charter School could barely stand still as the moment arrived.

“I want to see Santa and get presents and see the animals,” she said.

Once the doors opened at 10 a.m., visitors streamed in, poking briefly around the gift shop before wandering outside to look at the large collection of vintage warplanes.

Visitors climbed into the cockpits of some old planes. They also handled Guinea pigs from a 4-H group.

Volunteers handed out hot dogs, hot chocolate and caramel corn.

“We’ve been doing this for a long time,” said Lynn Hunt, museum president. “It’s really popular. And it’s free for kids.”

Santa, played by museum director Tom Chauncey, was slightly delayed.

When he finally arrived, it was in a blue instead of red helicopter as in years past. One organizer said the low cloud ceiling forced a change to a chopper from Helico Sonoma instead of REACH, known for its bright red medical helicopters.

Still, it elicited cheers.

Santa circled the crowd twice before landing and getting a ride in an old Army jeep to his chair. He was expected to take visits until 4 p.m. but called it quits around 1:30 p.m. because of rain.

“I hear him coming!” shouted Sophia Bottasso, 5 of Santa Rosa, who planned to ask him for a horn for her bike. “He’s going in a circle.”

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.?On Twitter @ppayne.