New-look Farmers Santa unveiled on Queen Street

Farmers building, 1960 and Santa after his facelift.

Santa gets "facelift": On Sunday, 22 November, Aerial dance artists will unveil Santa's reconstructed face.

From City Scene, published on 22 November, 2009.

Auckland's iconic Farmers Santa will be unveiled to all this weekend, after undergoing a "facelift".

Santa, who is located on Whitcoulls Corner - the country's busiest intersection at Queen and Victoria streets - marks his big 5-0 birthday next year.

To get ready for the momentous occasion he has had an impressive 4000 hours of "surgery", that includes the addition of reindeer and gifts, all made possible by funding from Heart of the City, Auckland City Council, Farmers and Whitcoulls.

Santa's reindeers are modelled on the originals that went up on the former Farmers building on Hobson Street - Santa's first home in 1960.

Today (Sunday, 22 November), aerial dance artists Eve Gordon and Beth Kayes will unveil the big fella in a show featuring music and entertainment from 1.30pm.

Santa's unveiling kicks off a fantastic line up of Christmas celebrations in Auckland's BIG little city. Make sure you check out next week's City Scene for more details of what's on - or visit BIG little city and get planning your city centre visit this Christmas season.