Kirkland resident Fred Herzberg has been asked to play Santa Claus for 30 years, taking photos at corporate offices, senior living facilities and with his own grandchildren. But this year was the first time he was asked to leave an event.

He said he planned to attend last weekend’s Kirkland Winterfest in his normal Santa outfit but was asked to leave Marina Park in downtown by event organizers, who said it was interfering with a fundraising effort by their own Santa.

According to Herzberg, 82, this isn’t the first time he’s played Santa and allowed people to take photos of him in downtown. Last year, he said, it took him an hour to walk two blocks due to the number of people asking to take photos with him. Herzberg lives near downtown Kirkland and walks to the event. Several months prior to Winterfest he reached out to the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce and offered to do so again but said he never heard from them. Despite this, he grew out a full beard and on Sunday dressed up and went to Marina Park, where the tree lighting had yet to take place. There, he sat down on a bench where he said people naturally gathered and requested to take pictures. He told the Reporter he never asked for money or charged anyone during the event.

At some point, he said, a woman approached him, saying she was with the company under contract with the paid promoters of the festival. She explained that he was “competing” with the official Santa they had under contract, who was also taking pictures with people but charging $10. According to Chamber of Commerce Marketing and Communications Director Samantha St. John, the money raised goes to cover the costs of the festival. Additionally, she said there were concerns about him being associated with the event when he hadn’t gone through a background check, as the “official” Santa had, and that he wasn’t cleared to be taking photos.

Herzberg said the woman insisted he leave the park, which he agreed in order to avoid upsetting the kids present by arguing. He headed up Lake Street, but kept getting stopped by families asking if their kids could take a photo with him in front of the Christmas tree. As he was doing so, an individual who claimed to be from the city asked him to leave, and the woman also reappeared to ensure he left.

“Apparently my offense was being too close to the Christmas tree,” he wrote in a letter to the city of Kirkland following the incident. “Perhaps this Santa fails to understand the modern spirit of Christmas.”

In the letter, he also questioned how he could be asked to leave from a public park by a private group based on what he was wearing.

“At what point does a dress code become important in a holiday celebration?” he wrote.

According to the city of Kirkland Communications Program Specialist David Brown, the Kirkland Parks Department was not aware of the incident or any of their employees being involved. He added that the downtown association was issued a special event permit, which included the use of Marina Park and the adjacent Lakeshore Plaza parking lot, while Special Projects Coordinator Sudie Elkayssi said the permit for the event had no restrictions for the general public, which is done for closed events like Oktoberfest.

“Next year I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” Herzberg said.