Annual Surfing Santas event,
presented by Orlando Health, rang in the holiday on
Florida's Space
Coast, with hundreds of
Santas and thousands of costumed spectators taking part in the
beachy holiday tradition
- 2024BROLL – Surfing Santas, Cocoa
Beach, FL
- COMPLETE MEDIA KIT for DOWNLOAD
COCOA BEACH, Fla.,
Dec. 24,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Surfing Santas returned to
Cocoa Beach, Florida for a
16th year, a traditional costumed extravaganza on
Florida's Space Coast that has
become one of the world's most-anticipated Santa-themed gatherings
at the surfing capital of Florida's East Coast.
2024 by the numbers
More than 12,000 spectators flocked to Cocoa Beach Christmas Eve
morning to cheer on over 400 surfers, taking to the Atlantic Ocean
decked out in their St. Nick outfits. This year's event raised a
record setting $100,000 for
charity, bringing the total raised since 2013 to more than
$400,000. All proceeds benefit the
work of local organizations including Grind for Life, which
provides financial assistance to cancer patients and their families
when traveling long distances to for their healthcare, as well as
the Florida Surf Museum, which preserves Florida's unique surfing history, and several
local school sports teams.
"Surfing Santas has been call the 'Greatest show on Surf'," said
event organizer George Trosset, who
got the craze rolling somewhat innocently on Dec. 24, 2009, when a news photographer captured
him wearing a Santa getup while surfing with his family. "Watching
this explode into one of the largest and most-talked about holiday
events has been nothing short of phenomenal."
This year marks the inaugural year with Orlando Health serving
as the presenting sponsor for Surfing Santas. The partnership,
developed as part of Orlando Health's East Region expansion, has
brought the two non-profits together to support multiple community
events over the year, including Surfing Santas. Orlando Health's
Chief Financial Officer for the East Region, an avid surfer,
Daniel Hodges participated in this
year's Surfing Santas event. Orlando Health expanded into
Brevard and Indian River Counties this past September with
acquisitions of Orlando Health Rockledge Hospital, Orlando Health
Melbourne Hospital and Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital.
Also this year, Who We Play For, a non-profit with a mission to
prevent sudden cardiac death, hosted life-saving CPR/AED training
at the event, and trained more than 400 people onsite. In addition,
Who We Play For provided more than 40 kids with free EKG
screenings.
More information, including the history of Surfing Santas, can
be found on the Surfing Santas event media page.
Media Contact:
Katie Mitzner
kmitzner@tuckerhall.com
407.803.2499
George Trosset
Surfing Santas
surfingsantas@gmail.com
321-223-6400
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SOURCE Orlando Health
