MENTOR, Ohio — Many of the traditional Christmas events, including the chance to see Santa up close and personal. have been canceled this year out of safety concerns due to the pandemic.

But with a "Ho ho ho" and a sincere smile, Joe Keller — better known as Santa Joe — is bringing holiday spirit to his Northeast Ohio community and keeping the Christmas spirit alive.

What You Need To Know

  • A man in Northeast Ohio known as "Santa Joe" is bringing joy to people this holiday season

  • He offers a drive-by Santa experience for his community that has grown to over a 100 cars per night

  • Community members are donating toys and school supplies for Santa Joe to give to the kids who visit him  

  • Santa Joe is out in his Mentor community Fridays and Saturdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“This world just needs some fun right now (and) needs some positive energy, needs something nice,” said Santa Joe.

Alongside him, two elves — Jacob Siders, 7, and Jackson Siders, 5, who double as his next door neighbors.

"My favorite past is helping Santa Joe and giving out candy canes and suckers to everybody,” said Jacob.

“My favorite part is making people happy and making people smile,” said Jackson.

Santa Joe’s dad used to play Santa a few years ago before he passed away. This year with the pandemic, when many people's spirits are down, Santa Joe decided to follow in his dad’s footsteps.

“I was thinking, you know what, this is a great thing to start again, especially this year,” said Santa Joe.

He's going all out this year. He even has a Facebook page that’s skyrocketed to over 500 followers in just a few days.

“It makes me feel so good. These kids and the letters that we're getting — we're getting letters to Santa and it's just amazing,” said Santa Joe.

Community members are even donating school supplies, money and toys to help Santa Joe hand out gifts to the kids who come by to say hi.

“We are getting donations like crazy and handing out candy canes and coloring books and toys. And it's just so much fun. Totally enjoy it,” said Santa Joe.  

Community members like Tiffany Quirino have brought her kids to see Santa Joe the past few weekends.

“When it first started, I drove past, like I got to bring my kids back and then when he started doing it weekly. It just like — it would get so big. It’s the coolest thing in the world to see something like that in our community. I know coronavirus has its downfalls, but Joe really pulled it together for our whole community,” said Quirino.

And others like Mentor resident Diana Hollander, who works with adults with disabilities, brought them to see Santa Joe.

“He just connected so well with them. You know, there are varying disabilities, and he just connected right away. And I just profusely thanked him for what he was doing. Cause it was just so the whole street was just alive and it was just cool. It was the coolest thing,” said Hollander.

Her work is one of the donors of items for Santa Joe to give away.

“Kindness breeds kindness, and we've got so many kinds of people that are just dropping things off. And that’s what I like to see; I like to see people pay it forward. It's my very favorite thing in the whole wide world. So, I was just really excited. I had a good time in that five minutes of seeing Santa,” said Hollander.

Five minutes of entertainment gearing people up for a season full of joy.

Santa Joe is outside in his Mentor community every friday and saturday from 6 p.m. until about 8 p.m. More information can be found on his Santa Joe Mentor facebook page.