Call them Santa's helpers or St. Nick surrogates, but this time of year red-suited doppelgangers of the jolly old elf are popping up all over.

Bob Hillberry, 85, of 142 Sharon Drive, has been substituting for Santa longer than most, 29 years.

He's been spreading holiday cheer at nursing homes, schools, social clubs and private homes since 1988.

His volunteer work in spreading cheer came from a place of sadness, Hillberry said.

“I started doing this in 1988 because my first wife passed away and I didn't have anything to do,” he said. “Someone said, 'You would make a great Santa.'”

The retiree from Robinson Industries in Harmony bought a wig from a costume shop.

“I got the suit from my nephew's wife's mother who made it for her husband. He died and I bought it off them.”

Hillberry began spreading cheer at nursing homes and senior centers, including Passavant Retirement Community in Zelienople and Concordia Lutheran Ministries in Jefferson Township.

Another four Santa stand-ins work for Bobbi Pisor of Hilliards, who gathers them together to work center court at Clearview Mall for North Pole Photo.

Another of her Santas works at Santa's Village at Shadrack's Christmas Wonderland at the Big Butler Fairgrounds

“Basically, they have to be good with kids. It takes a special person,” said Pisor of her Santas. “You can just tell they are enjoying what they do.”

“I can train my photographers, but if you don't have that special touch with kids, if you don't have that special bond with them ...” Pisor said.

“Some kids run right up to you, other kids are afraid to approach them,” Pisor said. “You have to know how to react.”

“I think it's the attitude,” said Ron Hans, 71, a retiree who has been playing Santa for Pisor for 10 years. “Not everybody can get up here and talk to kids. You have to really like it and like kids.”

That doesn't mean Hans' interaction with children is trouble-free.

“I have trouble with 2-year-olds just because they are afraid,” said Hans. “Four and above, they are all right, and infants are fine.”

With her Santas, Piser noted, they are fathers, grandfathers and now great-grandfathers.

The expertise comes in handy during long hours at the mall's center court throne and at Santa's Village.

Hillberry said he used to average 60 engagements a month in December entertaining children and senior citizens at nursing homes, social clubs and private homes.

“The Mars family adopted me,” he said, and for years he traveled on a wheeled sleigh through their Zelienople neighborhood favoring their neighbors with “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”

“Every Christmas Eve, I would go out on this wagon with a choir and a microphone and go 'Ho, ho, ho.' It was quite a night,” he said.

“I'd make visits until after midnight, stopping off at people's homes. I wouldn't get home until 2 a.m., ” he said.

Hillberry's holiday visits would start the first Saturday in November.

“I've been to Moose lodges and American Legions. I've been to every nursing home here in this area,” he said.He found entertaining small children or senior citizens is essentially playing to the same audience.“They are a whole lot alike. There's not a very big difference,” he said.“When I could still get down on the floor with the younger ones, I had as good a time as they did,” he noted.“In nursing homes I would go around from room to room visiting shut-ins and getting my photos taken with residents,” he said.“They loved to hear the sound of my bells in the hallways,” he said of the bells he sewed into his boots.But it was also the senior citizens he had to watch out for the most, he noted. They liked to go for his beard.“I had a string behind my neck so they couldn't pull it off,” he said. “One time, this 107-year-old lady put her stick up between my legs. Some aides had to come and get her away from me.”Over the years, he's stuck with the original beard and suit, although the beard gets washed and the suit gets the occasional dry cleaning.When he dons his work clothes for a visit, whether to a preschool or Elks lodge, Hillberry is always a volunteer Santa. There was no charge for his appearances.Appearances have diminished since 2013 when his second wife, Evelyn, became ill. She passed away in April.Hillberry only has 10 appearances lined up as December begins, although he would like to add more. People looking to arrange a visit from Santa Claus can call Hillberry at 724-287-1782.He plans to continue to slip into character each holiday season.“As long as my health stays the way it is, I've done this for 29 years, I will try for 30 I guess,” he said.It's not like he has a successor.“I tried to get a Mrs. Claus, but my wife, she wasn't that type of person,” he said.And as far as someone filling the red suit, Hillberry has his doubts.“It seems like they are hard to find. A lot of them don't have the right attitude. You have to know all the different nationalities and personalities,” he said.And you have to know how to dress the part,” said Hans.Hans sports a real white beard all year long.“Real is better,” Hans said. “I've had people come to me from faraway who chose us because we have the real beard. I guess it doesn't look fake.'“I've seen some bad Santas. One time there was some young guy with a black beard underneath his fake beard, sloppy tennis shoes under his boot covers. He was shuffling his feet.“I wanted to take him the bathroom and take his beard off. That reflects badly on us,” Hans said.“What I get out of it is that people really enjoy it,” said Hillberry. “They like the bells on the boots and what I say to them. They like to hear Santa Claus coming down the hallway.”