Extrusions Inc. gets visit from St. Nicholas

Santa Claus, portrayed by local resident James Johnson, offers candy canes to a group of plant workers at Extrusions, Inc. when Saint Nick paid a visit to the local business Friday afternoon. Johnson has portrayed Santa Claus each year during the holidays since starting work at the company two years ago. Santa was accompanied by one of his elves, portrayed by five-year company employee Paul Harrington. Tribune photo/Jason Silvers

Nearly 100 staff members, office personnel and administrators at Extrusions Inc. received an early holiday surprise Friday afternoon.

With gift bag in hand, a familiar jolly old fellow, clad in a red and white suit and hat, strode from the back of the company's 180,000-square-foot aluminum extrusion plant saying in a hearty bellow, "Merry Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Heads turned at every corner as Jolly Old Saint Nicholas made his way throughout the plant, wishing all a happy holiday season and passing out candy canes to employees. Accompanying Santa Claus on his long walk was one of his elves, who also carried a bag containing candy canes in case Saint Nick missed someone along the way.

Besides handing out candy and spreading holiday cheer, Santa also frequently stopped to visit with employees and to pose for photographs. Santa also encouraged several employees to "Be good, and I'll come visit you."

This is the second year in a row for Santa Claus to make an appearance at the local business. Santa first appeared to greet staff at the plant in 2006, and was invited back due to popular demand, according to Paul Harrington, a five year employee with the company.

"Everybody's been asking me, 'Where's he (Santa) at?'" Harrington said. "So we brought him back. It's sort of become a tradition."

Harrington, who also works as a carrier for The Fort Scott Tribune, was dressed as Santa's elf and helped him deliver the candy canes and spirited holiday messages to employees.

James Johnson, also an employee at the plant, has portrayed the jolly old elf during Santa's visit to the business the last two years. Johnson, who has worked at the facility since 2005, agreed with Harrington, saying that it was the persistent requests from his co-workers that eventually coaxed him into once again donning the famous red-and-white garb.

"Ever since my first year here, I've been Santa Claus," Johnson said. "People just kept asking me this year, 'Where's Santa?' So, here I am."

Extrusions Inc., 2401 S. Main St., is a custom aluminum extruding company that has been in business since 1963. Extrusions is a parent company of Win-Vent, a division of the company located inside the same facility.

Since 1974, Win-Vent has manufactured custom aluminum architectural windows for commercial and architectural applications, and also for construction purposes.