The quaint town of Santa Claus, Ind. (COVID road trip stop 2)

Over the next few weeks, I’m writing about stops on my recent road trip with Sweetums so sign up for blog notices if you want to follow along.

NOTE: We followed COVID regulations everywhere we went and we wore our masks, although I usually removed mine for photos. We want everyone to be safe when traveling.

Stop No. 2: Santa Claus, Indiana

We just happened to be passing this small town in Indiana but of course we had to stop. Sweetums has been there several times but I wanted to see this themed town. Unfortunately, we were there on a Monday and no much was open, even the Christmas shops. The local theme parks, Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari, was open but with restricted hours. Because of COVID restrictions, you should call before going.

Still, we were able to take lots of fun photos of shops, the Santa Claus Museum and Village, a historic Santa statue and Santa’s Candy Castle, which has been in business since 1935.

Santa Claus Museum & Village

This site features the 1880 Santa Claus Church, Santa Claus Post Office and a historic statue sculpted in 1935. The 22-foot-high concrete statue is sometimes billed as the World’s Oldest Santa Statue. The museum traces local history and the origin of the town’s name.

Santa’s Candy Castle

This store wasn’t open when we went but it looked like lots of fun. The website says, “Find a large selection of old-fashioned & hard-to-find candy, decadent hand-made confections, more than 30 flavors of cocoa, Frozen Hot Chocolate & more. Log onto the North Pole Network to chat with one of Santa’s elves. If it goes well, you can earn an official Good List Certificate.” Open seasonally, May through December.

Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari

Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari are a theme park and water park. The website says, “We started out as Santa Claus Land back in 1946 and are still owned and operated by the Koch family, who got it all started seven decades ago. In addition to top-ranked roller coasters and one of the world’s largest water parks, we do crazy things like not charge for parking. Oh, and soft drinks and sunscreen are always free. Always!”