Fred Herzberg, who arrived as Santa at Winterfest, recently met with the Kirkland Downtown Association (KDA) Executive Director, Bruce Wynn. He had just read the Kirkland Reporter story, and came directly to our office to apologize about what a misunderstanding all of this was, and was sorry about what a problem it had created for the Kirkland Downtown Association.

We explained that public safety was paramount when we produce an event and that anyone we hire as Santa needed to be vetted with a criminal background check. Fred understood why this should be done.

I also shared with Fred that we had comments from parents last year about children being confused by two Santas at Winterfest. He didn’t know that we had hired a Santa each year. Due to the Winterfest footprint, the public believed we had hired Fred as Santa. I shared with Fred that we had contacted him prior to the event explaining that we did not need his services and that we had already hired a Santa.

Fred doesn’t recall any phone call, but we have a statement from the event organizer that supports this.

Fred also says that he tried to drop off a letter at the Kirkland Downtown Association office before going to the press. We received the letter today, which was just now hand delivered.

Fred understands that if there was an incident with a Santa sanctioned by the event organizers that we would be liable for a lawsuit and this is why we hired the Santa that had a criminal background check.

Fred is willing to be interviewed with the KDA Executive Director to clear up this issue and put it all to rest.  We have contacted news outlets to tell the full story.

Executive Director Bruce Wynn

Kirkland Downtown Association