Giant inflatable Santa towers over homes in Timmins

An online search by Marc Letourneau led to a giant, $2,500 inflatable Santa in Timmins. It now anchors his brother Luc's lawn, drawing smiles.

There’s a new face towering over Timmins’ Power Avenue neighbourhood -- and he’s impossible to miss.

Standing 40 feet high, a massive inflatable Santa in his classic red suit and toy-filled sack has become a local attraction.

“I was just googling stuff one day, and I came across small Santas, so I googled world’s largest Santa,” said Marc Letourneau.

And even if not the largest, he’s certainly supersized. Letorneau said he bought the $2,500 inflatable Santa online and decided something this impressive deserved to be seen.

That prompted him to ask his brother Luc for help.

“I live in the country, so not as (many) people are going to experience the joy,” Marc said.

“So this year, I said, ‘Oh Luc, you want to put up at your house?’ He said, ‘Sure.’ So here we are.”

The Letourneaus have large Christmas gatherings, with 50-60 people -- and now this Santa is part of the celebration.

“It’s a little bit different fostering such a big animal, but it’s OK,” said Luc.

Set firmly in place

“It turned out to be a little bit of work, but it makes everybody happy.”

Marc said the Santa stays safe in place with ropes and buckets of frozen water on Luc’s front lawn.

“There’s, like, 12 ropes hanging onto this big sail, so it’s got to be tied down because any little bit of wind, it’s gone,” he said.

“I almost lost it the first year.”

When the weather is unfavourable, Luc said Santa doesn’t get inflated.

“We turn it off at night and then fire back up in the morning, weather permitting.”

The location for it couldn’t be better -- the jolly elf is set up directly across from a school, serving as a daily reminder for students to stay on the nice list.

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