After the retirement of Dr. Carl Anderson — NorthPark Center’s Santa for decades and a legend in professional Santa circles — the mall sifted through hundreds of applicants before settling on Joel Lagrone as the Dallas destination’s next Saint Nick.
NorthPark Center has a new Santa who will have no problem confidently explaining the aerodynamics of his reindeer-driven sleigh to a new generation of Dallas-Fort Worth children.
The Dallas mall has selected Joel Lagrone, an aerospace engineer at Lockheed Martin. He has worked on the F-35 joint strike fighter jet for almost all of his 23 years at Lockheed, and he isn’t quitting his day job.
Lagrone, 59, has had a beard since he was 19. As the beard changed from brown to gray and then white, Lagrone performed as a vocalist, guitarist and actor playing Jesus Christ, King Triton from The Little Mermaid and more recently Santa Claus.
He has sung the national anthem at Texas Rangers games for the last 23 seasons and has played Santa at Dallas Cowboys events and Highland Village’s tree lighting ceremony. He’s also been Santa for private gatherings of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ family.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
Click here to read the full story from our partners at The Dallas Morning News.
