Left, Santa Finbar Ciappara holding the key to Barre City with Mayor Jake Hemmerick. Photo by John Lazenby.
Barre City Mayor Jake Hemmerick honored Barre resident Santa Finbar Ciappara at the City Council meeting on Dec. 21 with a mayoral proclamation and the key to the city. “Santa Fin” has had a longtime ambition to be Santa Claus, and is featured in the HBO Max documentary “Santa Camp.”
As reported in Seven Days, “Fin, 32, was born with a rare form of spina bifida, [his mother], Suki said. He is nonverbal but for about two dozen words and phrases — “Ho ho ho” is a favorite. He communicates with the assistance of iPad app Dialogue AAC, which generates speech from typed text.”
