It was the day of the 2002 Salsa Festival. Mark and Debbie Tate wanted to stand out. They were taking their ice cream trailer, but Debbie wanted to make sure they sold something. So, she asked Mark to wear a Santa suit and grow out his beard for the festival.
“I thought my wife had a great idea, because who doesn’t love Santa?” Mark Tate said. The festival had a costume contest and by chance, Mark Tate was called to the front of the stage because he had won.
Shortly after getting off the stage, a woman came up to the Tates and asked how much it would cost for Mark to show up to her house as Santa.
“I told her he would do it for 250 dollars, and that was the first time he was paid to be Santa,” Debbie Tate said.
Today Mark Tate, 65, works as a mall Santa at the West Covina Mall. He feels COVID-19 takes away from the magic of working as Santa.
“I don’t like the mask— it takes away the humanity of Santa,” Mark Tate said. “Some kids are downright scared because of the mask, but I’m making the best of it.”
His friend Ben Rushing, drummer and film editor, was looking for a Santa to perform an original song written by Lance Cosgrove and Frank Simes. Rushing asked Tate to be a part of the project on the YouTube channel Klickfoot.
They created a music video titled “It’s Almost Christmas” to keep up the holiday spirit. It was released on Dec. 1 of this year. Tate sang and played the ukulele and guitar in the video.
“One of the things that Mark always wanted in his life was to be a rock star; he even left his home in Texas to pursue a career in music,” Debbie Tate said.
He discovered his love for music at his church and learned to play the guitar at 12 years old.
By the time he was 18, he was playing at night clubs in El Paso, Texas.
“I played at Cabaret and I even got to back up artists like Willie Nelson, Barbara Mandell and Charley Pride, but I wanted to get serious about my music so I moved to Hollywood at 22,” Mark Tate said.
Mark Tate did some acting and played for several bands before settling down and becoming a neighborhood Santa, although his dream of becoming a rock star never left him.
“When he became Santa, I saw something completely different in him; people would look at him and be amazed,” Debbie Tate said. “I told him Santa is the biggest rock star in the world.” Mark Tate started out as a neighborhood Santa 18 years ago. He created a makeshift Santa suit, calling himself “Econo Santa.”
“I would go to the dollar store and get a bunch of toys and throw together any red clothes I had,” he said. “I would show up Christmas morning and hand out all these toys to kids in the neighborhood.”
In 2004, Tate started working as a mall Santa after he had gained some experience working at parties. He has worked at Cerritos, Lakewood, Victorville and Buena Park malls. He then worked in Vegas for two years in the Town Square Parade.
“We had a parade, and I did a show for the local news with a snow machine behind me at five in the morning, then worked as Santa and took pictures for 13 hours straight after that,” Mark Tate said.
Then he went back to working at the Cerritos mall. After 11 years, he was transferred to West Covina Mall and continues his love of spreading joy.
“It’s probably one of the best things that’s happened to us; it’s a real joy to see him as Santa,” Debbie Tate said. “I love it when we walk in a room and if there is a child there, they will practically stop dead in their tracks because they see him. This was a ‘meant to be’ job for him.”
“Seeing kids who believe in Santa is magical— I just love it,” he said. “It’s a great way to spend the rest of my life.”
