SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN

Once fancied myself an expert in all things elf, having spent my high-school years donning red-and-green velour costumes with jingly-toed shoes and snapping photos of mesmerized children sitting on Santa's lap. But it takes me just three minutes on the trolley to Flagstaff's North Pole Experience to realize that I was playing in the elf minor leagues. These elves have made it to the big show.

When our trolley elf, Sparkle, engages a busload of wideeyed kids and parents in a round of infectious Christmas carols, I know the North Pole Experience elves could run circles around their shopping-mall counterparts.

Elf hierarchy aside, the North Pole Experience — or NPX, to those in the know — is the brainchild of the former owner of a toy-manufacturing company. He's also the father of the best focus group around: twin 11-year-old girls.

“I want to go to the North Pole and meet the elves and build toys,” Scott Pace's daughter Taylor told him several years ago.

Not every dad could make this far-fetched wish come true, but Pace, apparently, is no ordinary dad. He brought the North Pole to life six years ago in Greer, and since he moved it to Flagstaff in 2012, tens of thousands of believers and fencesitters have gotten to share Taylor's dream of hanging out with the elves each year. It's those fence-sitters who are most impacted by NPX. The doubts that had crept into their minds begin slipping away when they hop onto the trolley at the Little America Hotel. As the trolley approaches the magic portal, which grants access to the North Pole to only the good boys and girls, the fence-sitters often are among the loudest reciters of the portal poem: Jingle bells and magic spells, deck the halls with boughs of holly. Portal, please open for our trolley. Bringing a fictitious place to life is a risky proposition. The North Pole and Santa's workshop have been immortalized in As cinema, and generations of children have dreamed about the magical place where Santa makes his list and checks it twice.

As the “400-year-old” wooden doors (Santa's workshop has been around for quite a while, you know) to the workshop swing open and Santa's Toy Hall of Fame is revealed, even the most dubious fence-sitters can't help but think that maybe the magic portal has deposited them at the North Pole. Captivated children stare at Santa's favorite toys while their parents soak up the Norman Rockwell-inspired backdrop.

Santa gets top billing at NPX, but most of the 90-minute journey through the workshop is led by self-named elves with monikers such as Mittens and Snickerdoodle. The elves have been trained in local theater and choir programs to put on the ultimate holiday performance. At the North Pole, most elves are well into their second century of life, as the spirit of Christmas apparently slows the aging process.

No one knows this better than Alibaster Snowflake, Santa's 338-year-old master elf. Alibaster stands guard over Santa's old workshop and takes pride in keeping the younger elves in line.

Even the North Pole isn't immune to growth, so the old workshop gave way to a new operation, one where children assist the elves with teddy-bear and rocket assembly. Much like any assistance from children, the toy-making exercise quickly deteriorates into a foam-rocket battleground with parents duck-ing for cover.

The delighted shrieks of toy-making children echoing throughout the workshop tell Pace that NPX is striking the right chord.

“We're entrusted with children's innocence,” Pace says, adding that everyone in the cast of nearly 75 people who work at NPX for the five-week season needs to embrace this tremendous responsibility.

The road to meeting Santa is filled with snow-man soup (hot chocolate to the layperson) in Santa's bakery, a diploma from Elf University for remembering that sharing and respect are the fast track to the “nice” list, and the chance to draft a letter to Santa before the big meeting.

“These kids are in a state of astonishment,” Pace says about the reaction to the NPX star. “Santa Claus is still doing something right after all these years.” Each family gets personal time and a picture in Santa's study, a cherished few minutes with a man who clearly wears the red suit and grows an astonishingly realistic beard as a badge of honor. NPX is about much more than sitting on Santa's lap, but for the kids, this moment is their own North Pole experience.

Walking back to the trolley with a treasured picture in hand and holiday spirit penetrating the cold winter air, I straddle the fence of disbelief a little closer to the North Pole side, with visions of jingly-toed shoes dancing in my head.

At Flagstaff's North Pole Experience, children (and adults) assist Santa's elves with toy-making and get valuable face time with the man in red.