Santas line Arundel Avenue in West Hartford, and they’re doing their part to support the Food Pantry and Town That Cares Fund.

By Ronni Newton

It’s hard not to smile when you turn onto Arundel Avenue and you see them lined up, all the smiling faces, red suits, and one mittened hand raised in greeting.

“I had seen on an Instagram reel that a neighborhood had done these Santas,” said Beth Kyle, who lives on Arundel Avenue. And she forwarded the post to her neighborhood group. One resident immediately sent back a link to purchase the inflatable Santas.

Kyle didn’t think it would have much impact if it was just two or three Santas, but there were at least six or seven who signed on and now Arundel is lined with inflatable Santas on both sides of the block between Brace Road and Whitman Avenue, spreading joy to anyone who walks or drives by. There’s a lone Santa on another block of Arundel as well.

“We were all putting them up a couple of weeks ago, and people were stopping,” said Kyle. Everyone was smiling.

“I feel like we could all use a little joy,” said Kyle. But they didn’t stop just with making people smile.

“Operation Inflatable Joy” is also spreading that joy to West Hartford residents in need. “If it makes you smile, consider donating,” Kyle said. There’s a donation box in front of her Santa at 52 Arundel Avenue, where nonperishables are being collected for the West Hartford Food Pantry.

And if you don’t have food on hand, Kyle said her daughter also created a QR code that’s on a poster outside her house so people could donate directly to West Hartford’s Town That Cares Fund, which supports the Food Pantry as well as assists residents with energy costs and other needs.

West Hartford resident David Owens posted the photo of the “Santas of Arundel Avenue” on the Neighbors & Friends in West Hartford Facebook group on Friday evening, and at last count there were 436 like, love, or care reactions.

The Santas are inflated at dark, Kyle said, and while donations can be made at any time of day, to see them in their full glory you have to wait until evening.

“We have a great little neighborhood group and we like to do things together,” Kyle said. During COVID they held many outdoor events, and that neighborhood spirit is still going strong.

“Maybe next year we’ll have even more,” she said.

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