Hutchinson ? As cars drove by Elm on East 17th Avenue, some drivers honked at Roger Bale. People waved. They slowed down. A few looked at him, seemingly puzzled.

Bale waved to all of them, the bells around his left wrist jingling.

A woman in a gray car pulled to the curb, backed up a bit and opened her passenger door.

“What are you out here doing?” she asked.

“I’m waving to you guys,” Bale said with conviction.

She seemed to accept the answer as she closed the door and drove off toward Main.

For Bale, dressed as Santa Claus in front of his house, waving to passers-by, handing out candy canes to kids and posing for a drive-by photograph or two, not even frigid temperatures and accumulating snow could keep him from the task at hand: making people smile.

Roger Bale, dressed as Santa, waves Saturday from the corner of Elm and 17th Avenue in Hutchinson.

The Santa Claus of 17th and Elm is used to a variety of roles. He’s a father and grandfather, works for O’Reilly Auto Parts in McPherson and also has a part-time job with the City of Hutchinson. But for about four hours each day, on Saturdays and Sundays between Thanksgiving and Christmas, he dons the red suit, beard and boots and takes his place at curbside.

“It started last year,” he said. “I think because our guys were gone to Iraq, everybody was down.

“I thought, ‘There’s something that I need to do.”‘

He decided that something would take shape as Santa Claus.

“I thought if I could come out here and put one smile on one person’s face, I’d be happy.”

Bale’s done much more than that.

People’s reactions are what make it all – time and money spent, braving the elements, the occasional Christmas Grinch – worthwhile, Bale said.

“I’ve had parents come up with kids and tell me what I’m doing is really nice,” he said. “They’re glad someone’s out here doing something.”

One woman took his picture. She wanted to prove to her granddaughter that Santa Claus existed.

A couple and two children in a van stopped. The parents brought the boy and girl out to shake Santa’s hand and get candy canes.

Before hopping back in the vehicle, the young boy shouted, “We’ll see you next Sunday!”

In an expression visible even beneath a bushy white beard, Bale smiled, mirroring the expressions of the family of four.

They drove away. He kept waving.