>> On the north side of Evansville, just off Highway 41, stands a Santa Claus that is three stories tall.

He's been greeting passersby at this spot since 2016.

But for folks that grew up around here, he is a blast from the past.

>> I mean, this thing transcends just being here on this corner and people seeing a Santa.

It is a -- an icon to our Tri-State.

I saw it when I was a kid and always remember it waving.

Because, you know, I knew that I was close to home if we would be gone or something like that, when I saw the Santa.

>> Santa has been bounding around to different locations in Evansville since 1974, before settling down on the city's north side where he stood for over 30 years before he fell into disrepair and was hauled away.

Then one day, over a decade later, Ron McKeethen spotted Santa looking worse for the wear in a junkyard.

>> And I knew right away what that was.

It had stood in Evansville, Indiana, for so long.

And I took pictures of it and posted it on Facebook, and the next day it had 30,000 responses.

And I knew right then that somebody had to do something to be able to restore this Santa.

And the thought right behind that was, well, you're somebody.

>> So Ron, a commercial painter by trade, and artist Bob Zasadny went to work cleaning and restoring the fiberglass Father Christmas back to festive form.

>> And it wasn't just repainting.

He was broke in half.

It was a year.

It took a year to put him back together.

>> Lots of folks came by to see the progress, including a children's author who wrote a book about Ron and Santa.

>> It's called "Santa's Gift."

And not only does it talk about the restoration process and what it means to Evansville, in the back of the book is a complete history from when it was built, all the way up until the time it stood up.

He's a big old dude, ain't he?

>> Now Ron is thinking about the future.

>> I have six daughters of my own.

Six granddaughters and a grandson.

And so I want them to be able to experience the joy that I did, along with the whole entire Tri-State.

This thing was never meant to stand 45, 50 years as it has now.

I'm hoping that some people get interested in it enough to actually do a replica of it that will last for years.

>> But for now, Ron, his kids and the Tri-State area, are more than happy with the Santa they have.

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