The group of children excitedly greeted Santa as he rolled into the Vera parking lot for the annual open house and tree lighting in a Vera bucket truck.
But 1 child, Robby Broderius, shouted in delight when he saw the big man.
Above the cacophony of the crowd, a voice surprisingly shouted out, “It’s Steve. It’s Steve!”
Sure enough, the big man was Vera Electric Foreman Steve Brearley behind the wheel, and Robby is his number 1 fan. While other children flipped to see Santa, in Robby’s estimation, Steve was the star of the show.
Later, when his kindergarten teacher assigned the class the task of writing a hero story about a gingerbread boy, Robby used Steve as his inspiration. Along with writing the story, Robby illustrated his hero as a gingerbread man resplendent with a yellow hard hat and electric lineman gear.