‘An experience worth remembering, memories worth believing in’

Heather Graves

Staff

December 2, 2024

LUXEMBURG – Sara Pinchart – co-owner of Santa’s Crew, LLC – said she vividly remembers the first time she saw a reindeer.

“Seeing a reindeer was so magical to me as a kid,” she said. “I remember what went through my head when I saw a reindeer, and I can only assume that’s what other kids are kind of feeling at the same time when they get to see them.”

Growing up, Pinchart said her neighbors had reindeer, and brought them to events around the state.

“I helped him with a show once, and I fell in love with it,” she said.

So, when he was looking to sell the business in 2016, Pinchart – who was only 17 years old at the time – said she convinced her father to partner with her to purchase the business.

“My dad and I went into a partnership with it, and we ended up buying everything from him,” she said.

Everything, that is, Pinchart said, except for the reindeer.

“He already sold his reindeer, so we had to find a pair from someone else,” she said. “Then we built the facility on my parents’ property – all the fencing and the building.”

Pinchart said thanks to growing up on her parent’s dairy farm, she had experience caring for large animals.

“I grew up with cattle, so I had that experience around larger animals,” she said. “That’s kind of how it all started. We didn’t necessarily intend to raise a herd of reindeer, but when we found out our neighbor was selling, we thought, ‘Hey, why don’t we do that?’”

And, as the saying goes, Pinchart said the rest was history.

The herd

The Santa’s Crew herd, Pinchart said, is eight strong – four cows that they breed with a bull and three calves.

“We had our first set of twins earlier this year,” she said. “That’s exciting, because twins are very rare in reindeer – they usually only have a single calf.”

Though twins – Prancer and Blitzen, a girl and boy, respectively – Pinchart said they have very different and unique personalities.

“Blitzen, the bull calf, he is a little honey,” she said. “He will come up to you, and he’s the first one at the feed pale. He’s like, ‘Oh, I like my treats.’ He loves it when you pet him – he’s a little lover.”

Prancer – “she was born a bit smaller than Blitzen” – on the other hand, Pinchart said, is very curious, not afraid of anything – including the family’s dog.

“We have a dog here, and she goes right up to him, which is kind of strange, because reindeer are more of a prey animal,” she said. “She doesn’t really jump as much at things that you would think animals would. She’s so tiny, cute and lovable.”

One of Santa’s Crew’s first reindeer – and the mother of the twins – Pinchart said, is Cupid.

“She is the most photogenic one,” she said. “She will stand right at the picture gate, wanting to be in every picture.”

Determined not to give up her chance to appear in everyone’s holiday photo, Pinchart said Cupid will sometimes even rest her head on the gate and fall asleep.

“She wants to be in every photo – she loves being the center of attention,” she said.

Dancer, Pinchart said, though also “a picture hog,” moves around the pen more so than Cupid.

“She likes people, but she doesn’t like standing as still as Cupid,” she said.

When at home, Pinchart said the spunky and playful Dancer is the one typically running laps in the pasture.

Vixen – the bold personality of the group – Pinchart said likes to put on a show and see what she can get away with.

“She’s a little spitfire,” she said. “She has her moments – like we all do – where she’s like, ‘I don’t want to be bossed around today, and I’m just going to lay down.’ So sometimes, after an hour at the event, she’ll lie down and just chill. So if you are at an event and you see a reindeer laying down, that is likely Vixen.”

Pinchart said Blizzard is the bull of Santa’s Crew.

“He got his name since he was born during a blizzard,” she said. “He is a gentle giant outside of rut (mating season) and likes to do ‘zoomies’ around in the pasture.”

And last but not least, Pinchart said there is Zane – a bull calf born last spring.

“He is very social, and you’d most likely see him locking antlers and playing with the other calves,” she said. “He likes playing reindeer games with the others.”

Pinchart said the twins will make their holiday debut at a handful of events this season.

“We’ll kind of be alternating the twins at events,” she said. “The calves learn from their mom, and then they’re comfortable because they have their mom there with them. They catch on really quick.”

Reindeer games

Since becoming a reindeer herder, Pinchart said she’s definitely learned a lot – including the hierarchy of a herd.

“The more reindeer we got, the more that a hierarchy was kind of created,” she said. “When we only had two, you know, they got along pretty well. As we got more and more reindeer, they created more of a hierarchy, which is also why we make sure their feed is all spread out, so that there isn’t (one) bossing around another.”

Though the herd only makes appearances during the holiday season, Pinchart said caring for them is a year-round job.

This, she said, includes managing the herd’s health care.

“When we first got them, we learned quickly that you have to deworm them regularly,” she said. “Because they eat a lot of ground and dirt, that can make them get parasites or worms. That is something that we became aware of by experiencing it or talking to other reindeer owners.”

Pinchart said the reindeer are fed a grain mix and hay daily – which again, due to the herd’s hierarchy, is done in multiple areas throughout the pen/barn.

“We pick their pen and make sure they’re bedded up really well,” she said. “We don’t trim their hooves daily, but that is something we are always watching – to make sure they have good hoof care and make sure they have nice, clean coats.”

Watching the herd and each reindeer within the herd grow, Pinchart said, has been the best aspect of co-owning Santa’s Crew.

“It’s fun seeing the reindeer’s personality come out more throughout the years – especially as they get comfortable being out in public and seeing the kids,” she said. “They all have such different personalities, and seeing how they interact with the public is always fun to see.”

Jingle all the way

As one can imagine, Pinchart said the holiday season is Santa’s Crew’s busiest time of year – making its way to dozens of private and public events throughout the state during November and December.

Not only does the crew bring the reindeer to an event, but she said it also brings all the equipment needed.

“We have our own display pen,” she said. “We have a little photo area where people can sit and we position the reindeer behind them.”

Pinchart said they also bring a sleigh as an alternate photo option for folks.

“And then we always have two ‘elves’ in the pen leading the reindeer around,” she said. “They can answer questions as well, because a lot of people, especially children, have questions about the reindeer.”

In the past nearly eight years, Pinchart said the Santa’s Crew elves have definitely heard all sorts of questions.

“After a few years, we kind of learned what the most common questions typically are,” she said. “A lot of people ask us why we are tall. ‘That would be because we are the reindeer elves, and we need to be tall.’”

Another commonly asked question, Pinchart said, is “where are the other reindeer?”

“Our response was, ‘They are at the North Pole,’” she said. “‘They take turns traveling around and seeing people. So the other elves and the other reindeer are up there because they’re preparing for the big day.’”

Though the crew has mastered many of the questions they are posed every year, Pinchart said, “we still get a few questions every year that surprise us, that we’ve never been asked before.”

 Pinchart said they transport the reindeer to and from events in a cattle trailer.

“There’s a compartment in the front that the reindeer go into, and then we have all of the display stuff kind of puzzled into the trailer, so it all fits nicely,” she said. “The reindeer handle the travel very well.”

For its occasional Christmas in July events, Pinchart said they are very cognizant of the conditions for the reindeer.

“We mount fans in the trailer, and we also have fans on in the pen,” she said. “If we do a Christmas in July event, we require that the event be in the morning, like 8-10 a.m., so when we’re traveling, it’s in the coolest part of the day, and we’re then home before the hottest part of the day.”

Thanks to its herd size, Pinchart said Santa’s Crew can be present at multiple events at the same time.

“We have two teams,” she said. “So if there’s a day that we have two events that overlap, we can have the two teams go out – Dancer and Vixen will go to one, and then Cupid and Blitzen will go to another.”

On these days, Pinchart said she will take one trailer, and her dad will take the other.

“We also have to make sure we have enough elves on those days – especially since the holiday season is so busy for everyone – to make sure you have enough helpers to kind of make sure all the events are covered,” she said. “We rotate the reindeer so they can get a little break.”

Seeing the magic that interacting with the reindeer brings to the children at each of Santa’s Crew events, Pinchart said, is a reminder of the magic she felt when she was a kid.

“It’s just such a magical experience,” she said.

Pinchart said Santa’s Crew have already attended a variety of events this season, with several more on the docket.
A full schedule is available on Santa’s Crew’s Facebook page.

Now dash away, dash away, dash away all

Pinchart said the plan is to keep the herd relatively the same size.

“We’re not planning on expanding a lot – just keeping the herd large enough so we can rotate them through,” she said. “We kind of like the size that we’re at. We might add another one or two, just to have more trained reindeer.”

A mother of two – “I have a daughter and a son” – Pinchart said she’s excited for her children to grow up with and around the herd.

“I’m excited for them to be able to grow up around them,” she said. “Having this animal experience at such a young age (is priceless). I hope they will enjoy it as much as I do, and they can help out and go to events and spread the magic of the reindeer and Christmas.”

For more on Santa’s Crew, visit santas-crewllc.com.