For more than 20 years, Santa Claus has stood at the corner of Sunlight Drive and Sylvan Court, its sparkling lights helping to usher in Christmas.

The 4-foot-tall Santa belonged to Doug and Michelle Edgell whose home faces on 441 Sunlight.  From the corner, the Edgell garage and backyard fence angle at the opening to Sylvan Court, one of the most decorated residential neighborhoods in Powell each Christmas season.

Santa has been a fixture at that intersection.

Last year Edgell thought was it was time to say goodbye to Santa.  It had seen its better days.

“I was tired of restringing the lights,” he said. “I put it in the dumpster.”

“It wasn’t an hour later, I looked out, and it wasn’t there,” Edgell recalled.  “I thought that’s all right. Maybe someone else wanted it.”

It turns out Santa still had some good days ahead. And it hadn’t left the neighborhood.

Next door neighbor Bruce Rogers, who lives at 916 Sylvan Court, retrieved Santa from the dumpster and over time went to work.

“It was in bad shape,” Rogers said. “It took me about two weeks and 450 zip ties to repair it, and I had to restring it with all new lights.”

The reconditioned Santa made its appearance on Dec. 3 this year. Rogers said he tried it in front of his house, but it didn’t look right.

He approached the Edgells, and Santa made its way back to the longtime corner location.

“In future years, I might put it in another location. It’s a neighborhood Santa now,” Rogers said.

— Dave Bonner