Happy holidays from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Check out behind-the-scenes footage of Santa’s visit to the Brickyard, a video of the event, additional photos, or read on to find out more about our stop on Macy’s Santa Tour in support of the Make-A-Wish Foundation:
Macy’s Santa Claus paid a visit to a snowy, chilly Indianapolis Motor Speedway today, just two days before his busiest night of the year, as the final “pit stop” of the 26-city, national Macy’s Believe Santa Bus Tour in support of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Santa visits the Hall of Fame Museum
During his visit, Santa saw a variety of IMS landmarks, including a trip to the top of the Pagoda control tower to shout “Merry Christmas, Indianapolis, ho, ho, ho” (loud enough that we’re convinced that folks walking around Monument Circle could have heard him).
Despite heavy snow covering the track, Santa also took part in the tradition of kissing the Yard of Bricks with his elves at the start-finish line before heading to the Hall of Fame Museum to share a holiday story and hear the holiday wishes of children, including nine, Indianapolis-area families representing the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Santa and his elves exclaiming "Merry Christmas" to Indianapolis
Santa and his elves kiss the bricks
Children visited the Museum with a letter for Santa, or had the opportunity to create one on the spot, and Macy’s donated $1 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for every letter presented. The kids and their families also enjoyed free Museum admission, hot chocolate and cookies, and were able to hear a special holiday story from Santa.
The children took turns presenting Santa with their letters and whispering in his ear what they wanted for Christmas. Indianapolis-area resident, Amy Wilson said via Facebook that the tour stop was a “Wonderful and magical holiday memory for me and my girls… they loved it. The story was their favorite part. My middle daughter thought that it was the real santa cause when she pulled on his beard, it didn’t come off.”
A young girl presents her letter to Santa
After meeting every child in attendance, Santa presented a Centennial-era commemorative brick to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and then loaded into his tour bus where a police escort was waiting to take Santa out of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and through the streets of Indianapolis to his next stop.
Santa Presents a Commemorative Brick to the Make-A-Wish Foundation
A police escort takes Santa to his next stop
Not able to join us today? Check out a video capturing Santa’s visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or see additional photos from the event on our Flickr page. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway would like to thank the community members who came out to the Hall of Fame Museum today in support of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Macy’s Santa Tour. Happy holidays to you and yours!
Big thanks to the Macy’s Day Parade Santa Claus and elves for stopping by the Motor Speedway on their way to the North Pole! Thank you also to the Speedway and stafff for such an amazing welcoming party for Santa. It was truly a wonderful time for Make-A-Wish children and families.
Sincerely,
The Make-A-Wish Staff
That was one of the coolest things that could ever be done. Thanx Santa for making a stop at the Greatest Race Course in the world. Merry Christmas
[...] Motor Speedway was another one of those “let’s play in the snow” days. Santa (the REAL one) was coming to IMS thanks to Macy’s and he would be practicing for the Christmas Eve altitude by going up on the top [...]
The event was spectacular…Santa was the BEST! I thought the pictures taken individually with the children would be posted here so they could be downloaded??
Whoops, I found them! Great! Also my grandkids was excited to see themselves on TV.
Where do you find the individual photos?
Scroll up on this page and look to the right all the pictures are in thumbnails but can take you to all the photos
Where can I find the photos taken of the kids and Santa on your web site as indicated by your staff member?
The individual pictures will be up on monday. If you would like them earlier please email me at jnewton@brickyard.com. Please describe your child and i will search for it. Due to an overwhelming response we are a little behind on editing the photos. Thanks
[...] Museum, the Macy’s Santa Claus Tour stopped by to spread holiday cheer to everyone (Miss it? Find out more here–). The team (or elves for the time being) helped Make-A-Wish children and their families [...]