By Charlie Pike
From our December 2024 issue
Last year, Markus Steelgrave, whose bushy white beard and twinkly blue eyes give off strong Santa vibes even when he’s not dressing the part, spotted a tantruming boy and his frazzled mother in the grocery store. Markus approached him and, in a deep Santa voice, whispered in his ear, “I am watching you.” The child, stunned, went silent and his mother mouthed “thank you” to Markus. A professional Santa, it turns out, is always on the clock.
Markus first played the role as a teenage thespian filling in for a no-show St. Nick at a Portland department store. “The kids actually believed I was Santa,” he says. “I loved, and still love, being able to create that awe in kiddos.” After starting his career as a magician, he and his first wife began playing Santa and Mrs. Claus at holiday events in 1990. When he married his current wife, Angelique, in 2002, she wasn’t too keen on being his grandmotherly sidekick. She dressed up as an elf, but people called her Mrs. Claus anyway. “And it just seemed a little odd for Mrs. Claus to be wearing an above-the-knee, flouncy dress,” she says.
These days, the Steelgraves, who live in East Waterboro, are Clauses-for-hire during the holiday season (find them at L.L.Bean, in Freeport, from November 22 to December 23) and balloon artists and magicians the rest of the year. On their rare nights off, they like to settle into a booth at Portland’s The Great Lost Bear beer bar and restaurant, where, this time of year, a plastic light-up Santa is on duty.
