Santa is real — and he has a deep connection to this Sioux Falls bank

This paid piece is sponsored by The First National Bank in Sioux Falls.

It’s that time of year again: Holiday magic fills the air, twinkling lights lead the way down every side street in town, and children are buzzing with anticipation and sugar rushes as they line up to visit Santa in malls all across the country.

However, it’s time to be honest with ourselves about a certain facet of this most joyous of seasons.

If Santa is truly real, then there can only be one.

Buddy the Elf already proved that to us more than two decades ago.

And if you were to ask the teammates at The First National Bank in Sioux Falls — or their children, for that matter — they would tell you they know him. The real Santa.

Don’t believe us? Well, you might want to sit tight for a quick little Christmas story.

Operation: Santa Night

Santa Night is an exclusive First National Bank event: the perfect opportunity for teammates to bring their children or grandchildren to see Santa amid the busy Christmas season.

It’s a night of magic and wonder for the children of First National Bank, and it’s a tradition that solidifies the outstanding workplace culture often bragged about by the bank’s teammates.

“Santa Night is one of my favorite nights of the year,” said Maggie Groteluschen, fiduciary services manager at First National Wealth Management. “It remains a favorite FNB tradition of mine!”

Groteluschen has been attending Santa Night since she was a kid. Her mom, Peg, and dad, former First National Bank president and CEO Bill Baker, would bring her and her siblings.

“We visited Santa in the bank lobby every year,” Groteluschen said. “When he walked up the stairs to depart with his reindeer and sleigh, we would sneak up to the fifth-floor roof and undoubtedly spot Rudolph’s nose blinking somewhere over the city as Santa made his way back to the North Pole.”

Now, Groteluschen brings her three children each year to visit Santa and keep the family tradition alive.

So why does the real Santa come to First National Bank?

Held in the atrium of the bank’s downtown Sioux Falls office, Santa Night is a decades-long tradition shared by hundreds of teammates and their children over the years.

“Since the beginning of Santa Night so many Christmases ago, every child of FNB has been on the Nice List,” Santa said. “I knew I had to witness such unparalleled levels of niceness for myself.”

Mrs. Claus chimed in that after the first year, “we so thoroughly enjoyed the family atmosphere at First National Bank that we decided to keep coming back.”

A Santa Night throwback from the Clauses’ visit in 2008

According to the Clauses, they look forward to taking a break from the busy workshop each year to make some stops around the world, including their annual visit to First National Bank.

“My favorite part of coming back is witnessing how excited the kids always are to see Santa,” Mrs. Claus said.

From new faces to Santa Night regulars, “the anticipation and excitement in the room are always palpable.”

Baby Ridley, born earlier this year, attends her first Santa Night.

And since the pair has been returning to the bank for decades, it’s always a treat to reunite with familiar faces.

“Whether it’s the families that come every year or it’s the multiple generations like Maggie and her family,” Mrs. Claus said. “We watched Maggie grow up, and now we have the joy of seeing her little ones too.”

The annual Groteluschen family picture: Maggie; her husband, Kyle; their three kids; and her parents, Peg and Bill Baker

Santa, who keeps a close eye on the children of First National Bank throughout the year, said his favorite aspect of Santa Night is simply hearing what the kids want for Christmas and seeing the excitement in their eyes.

He also likes to surprise them by asking about specific things in their lives.

“One boy, George, had broken his arm recently, so I asked him how it was doing,” Santa said. “Seeing his expression was priceless! We also heard from his mom later on that George mentioned how he knew we’d been watching him.”

A moment of connection between George and Santa, captured at this year’s Santa Night

Of course, Santa’s yearly return to the bank is just as long-awaited for the children.

According to project manager Sarah Gaul, “My oldest daughter knows this is the real Santa who comes here as opposed to the ‘helper’ Santas that are working around town.”

Gaul and her husband have been bringing their daughters to Santa Night since 2016, and Santa always looks forward to his reunion with the girls.

“This year,” Santa said, “I asked them if their dog, Waffles, could come visit and play with Rudolph!”

The Gaul girls read their Christmas wish lists to Santa and Mrs. Claus.

“Our daughters feel so lucky to talk with him,” Gaul added. “How else would Santa know to ask about Waffles?”

The making of Santa Night

The event is put on by the bank’s internal marketing department, which consists of five members. To wrap up this story with a nice little bow, we asked them to take us inside this year’s festivities.

Santa Night has evolved over the years, but the premise for the event remains the same: The children of FNB come to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas, and then they pose for a photo.

It sounds pretty simple, but there’s a lot of planning to make the night a success.

“Santa has a super-busy schedule this time of year, obviously,” said Kara Tesch, the bank’s content strategist. “We’re usually reaching out sometime in October to get a date on his calendar.”

Once the night is confirmed, it’s up to the marketing team to make the necessary preparations for a proper visit.

They work with the maintenance team to put everything in place, including positioning the vintage sleigh in the bank’s atrium for Santa and the kids to sit in.

Marketing teammates Jacquelyn Benda and Kara Tesch test the sleigh before Santa arrives.

“To make the night extra-memorable, we also put together activities for the kids to do before and after they visit with Santa,” said Jacquelyn Benda, the bank’s digital strategist.

This year’s activities matched the chosen theme: Cozy Up With Santa Night.

“We cut little sweaters out of construction paper for the kids to decorate while they waited in line,” Benda said. “After their turn with Santa, everyone had the opportunity to make their own hot chocolate to-go bag.”

In addition to three flavors of hot cocoa mix — classic, double chocolate and peppermint — the children could add their choice of mix-ins: caramel bits, crushed peppermint, mini chocolate chips and snowman marshmallows.

When the night arrives, Santa and Mrs. Claus park their sleigh on the roof and descend the atrium stairs, where the bank’s sleigh and Christmas tree await them.

The marketing team then helps the children climb into the sleigh with Santa, snaps some photos so parents can hold onto the precious memories and makes sure everyone is safely sent on their merry way.

“Over the following few days, we sort through the photos and pick out the best ones,” Tesch said. “Then, we share them internally so the parents can download them — and so everyone else can be a little nosy and see all the cute moments from the night!”

A tradition that lives up to company values

Santa Night has become a treasured tenet of the bank’s company culture.

It holds true to the bank’s family values and honors the organization’s commitment to teammate well-being.

In fact, Santa Night in 2022 was the same night the bank found out it had won the Workplace Excellence Award for Culture from the Sioux Empire Society for Human Resource Management.

Call it irony. Call it Christmas magic.

Either way, there’s no denying that the bank’s connection with the real Santa played some sort of part in it.

If Santa Night sounds like fun and you want to work for an organization that matches your values, learn more about First National Bank’s culture or browse career opportunities!