[Florida Today]

Boldly going where few, er, plush toys have gone before, George Trosset Sr.’s small “Surfing Santa” soared into the Final Frontier late this summer, bringing back an official Blue Origin “Certificate of Flight” and inspiration for this year’s Cocoa Beach event.

Hillard Grossman
Florida Today
Published 9:19 a.m. ET Nov. 29, 2022

The 14th edition of the ultra popular Surfing Santas exhibition takes place on Christmas Eve morning at the end of Minutemen Causeway and features some 400-500 holiday-attired surfers and thousands of spectators.

The plush toy, now encased in glass and recently displayed during a public reception at the Florida Surf Museum, traveled with Pineapples restaurant owner Steve Young some 63 miles up on the NS-22 (New Shepard) flight that launched from Texas.

George Trosset Sr., founder of Surfing Santas, shows off what he calls "Stowaway Santa," which traveled into space Aug. 4 aboard a Blue Origin flight with local restaurant owner Steve Young.

George Trosset Sr., founder of Surfing Santas, shows off what he calls “Stowaway Santa,” which traveled into space Aug. 4 aboard a Blue Origin flight with local restaurant owner Steve Young. Hillard Grossman/Special To FLORIDA TODAY.

“My dream was to let Santa float around in the capsule, but they never let him out of the suitcase. That’s why we call him ‘Stowaway Santa’ now,” Trosset said. “But it inspired me, that if he went on New Shepard, why couldn’t he go on SpaceX, or Virgin Galactic, or why not to the Space Station or maybe even to the moon with Artemis? After all, he doesn’t use the bathroom, and he doesn’t talk back.”

Santa’s new route:Astronaut! Brevard’s Steve Young flies into space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket

This Surfing Santa plush toy flew aboard the Aug. 4 Blue Origin flight from Texas, earning a Certificate of Flight from the space company.

This Surfing Santa Plus toy flew aboard the Aug. 4 Blue Origin flight from Texas, earning a Certificate of Flight from the space company. Hillard Grossman/Special To FLORIDA TODAY.

Toys such as Snoopy (on Artemis I); Smokey Bear (with astronaut Joe Acaba, once a teacher at Melbourne High); Magellan T. Bear; Buzz Lightyear; Tremor the Dinosaur; and Buddy, known as “Little Earth,” have floated in zero-gravity space.

This year, Surfing Santas will have its first raffle, thanks to the donation of a 1996 Toyota Hilux “Surf” diesel-powered SUV from Mike Erdman’s Auto Expo 95 collection in Cocoa. Tickets are $20, or six for $100, and can be obtained at https://surfingsantas.org/raffleraffle or at various locations in the city.

 

See Original news article:

Surfing Santa in space on display; Caroline Marks wins in Jacksonville; GromFest returns

A plush “Surfing Santa” toy that flew to space on a Blue origin flight is encased in glass at Florida Surf Museum, plus other surfing news.