Little North Pole Leaves a Lifetime of Memories

By Katie McFadden

I was about 9 years old when a teacher came in to do a special holiday art project in my class and told us about the Little North Pole, a magical home in Neponsit that put on the best Christmas display in Rockaway. About 25 years ago, I begged my parents to take me that year for the annual lighting. I’ll never forget that experience of seeing the Little North Pole light up for the very first time. The rumors were true. It was the most magical holiday house in Rockaway. Making it even better, after several amazing musical performances, Santa Claus himself showed up, arriving in style! All of the kids were asked to wait in line to meet him, and I was amazed by the toy I received. It was a memory that has lasted a lifetime, and it brings joy year after year, to see kids experience it for the first time and take home that lasting memory for themselves. This year, that chance will be Saturday, December 7, as Joe Mure’s Little North Pole, located at 144-03 Neponsit Ave., lights up for its 29th year.

For Rich Keane, a local man who is now credited with helping to make the Mure’s Little North Pole’s display possible, making sure every lightbulb is screwed in just right, that memory began about 20 years ago. After moving to Beach 143rd about 10 years prior, he decided to see the display for himself. “I said, ‘wow, I can’t believe this guy does that!’” Keane, an electrician for the FDNY recalls, being blown away by the display himself. It was made even better when his son came home with a special toy. “My son got a beautiful toy and Santa gave all the kids toys, and this was when it was just a few hundred people, not like today where more than a thousand people show up,” he said. Keane was inspired. He went back to the Mure home that night, got out a check and was looking to put it in the donation box to help support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation when he heard a voice say, “What are you doing here?” Keane looked around but didn’t see anyone. He then realized the voice was coming from an animatronic decoration on the lawn. “I said, ‘I’m putting a check in the box’ and it said, ‘That’s very nice. I’ll be right out.’” That’s when Keane first met the man behind the animatronic, and the Little North Pole itself—Joe Mure. Mure got to talking to Keane and asked him what he did for a living. “I told him I’m an electrician for the fire department. He grabbed me and said, ‘I need you.’ Next thing I know, I’m in his house, getting suckered into this.” Twenty years later, Keane can’t say no, as he was out in the freezing temperatures this week, on the FDNY bucket truck, wrapping more than 10,000 lights around tree branches outside of Mure’s home. And when the countdown reaches zero on the night of the Little North Pole lighting, Keane is the man to thank for it going off without a hitch. “Joe is a good guy, and he does an unbelievable thing with this and raises a ton of money for juvenile diabetes research. I’m excited to help him year after year,” Keane said.

For Jodi Tucci, she fell in love with the Little North Pole when she fell in love with Joe Mure about 14 years ago. “I couldn’t have imagined what it was like. He tells me ‘The tractor trailers are coming, that’s where I keep my Christmas decorations.’ I didn’t know what to expect,” Tucci recalls. Then hundreds of people showed up that weekend after Halloween to start unloading the massive decorations and Tucci started to get an idea of what was in store for her with Rockaway’s Mr. Christmas. “I thought I loved Christmas, but it was then that I realized, maybe this guy likes Christmas even more than me,” Tucci said.

Now Tucci lives in the Little North Pole and has taken on many roles to help her love bring it all together. Tucci works with John “Johnny Lights” Sluyk to help create the garage display, which this year will follow a theme of a cave on the island of misfit toys, where Santa’s elves will be packing them up for Santa to deliver on Christmas. She also plays a big role in organizing toys herself, along with her sister, Lori, as they separate some early arrivals from the real North Pole, into bags of boys’ and girls’ toys for different age categories, so that when Santa arrives on Saturday, he’ll be ready to hand out toys quickly to every child in attendance. It’s all a labor of love but for Tucci, it comes with its rewards. “One of my favorite things is on any given day, I walk out of my house and see children smiling and their eyes lighting up when they see it. And it’s amazing to see the community coming to help set up, those who donate food, and toys and their time to perform. It’s just such a wonderful thing to be a part of,” Tucci said.

This year, the Little North Pole will be lit on Saturday evening, with the show starting at 3:30 p.m. It will kick off with local schools and dance teams performing, some local singers and then some bigger acts like Angelo Venuto will perform his rendition of “Sweet Caroline” and other tunes, and Lime, a Canadian disco band with big hits in the ‘80s, like “Your Love,” will take the stage, plus there will be special appearances. Joe Causi, Goumba Johnny and Sid and Friends will emcee the show. There will be plenty of food, accessible with a donation bracelet. And after the home is lit, Santa Claus will arrive to give out toys.

As usual, all donations for the Little North Pole will go towards juvenile diabetes research, through the charity now known as Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF). The charity near and dear to the Mure family, as Joe’s own children were diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, recently underwent a name change, as they make more breakthroughs in their effort to find better treatments, and one day, hopefully, a cure for Type 1 diabetes. Reps from Breakthrough T1D will be on site, as well as a special group of children living with Cooley’s Anemia, and others going through cancer treatments. Always giving special recognition to children in need, after Saturday’s lighting, Mure will do it all again for a group of autistic children on Monday morning, St. Camillus Special Olympics at 6:30 p.m. on Monday night, and once again for a group of foster children on Wednesday evening. “It’s unfair that these children go through these things, and they didn’t ask for this. So if we can help them a little bit, that’s what it’s all about,” Joe Mure said.

Giving it the attention it deserves, this year, The Little North Pole will be featured on Hallmark+ in a show called, “Ready, Set, Glow!” hosted by Wes Brown. And Paris has even taken an interest in Rockaway’s little slice of Christmas as French TV show, Enquête Exclusive, M6 will be filming and featuring it in a Christmas in New York special.

Catch the magic for yourself. Head to 144-03 Neponsit Ave. at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, or through early January. And to donate or for more info, head to: https://littlenorthpole.org and follow @thelittlenorthpole on Instagram.