Ho ho home run: Winnipeggers caught looking at city’s biggest Blue Jays fan

The city’s biggest Toronto Blue Jays fan is hard to miss — a 14-foot-tall Santa inflatable towering over a backyard fence in south St. Vital.

Santa has traded his Blue Bombers gear for a Blue Jays jersey as Canada’s only Major League Baseball team chases its third World Series title.

Jay Porath, the man behind the festive figure, went all out to help his community get into the World Series spirit.

“I had the idea the other day, because everyone’s pretty excited about this whole Blue Jays run, so I figured I’d try out this one, and it’s gotten the same response as the other ones,” Porath said. “People in the neighbourhood love it. It makes it worth doing.”

Porath first dressed Santa in a Blue Bombers jersey during their 2021 Grey Cup run and has been suiting up the jolly old fellow in blue and gold ever since.

This year, Porath used a Cricut machine for the first time — a device that cuts custom designs from various materials. He used it to create a two-foot Blue Jays logo, which he applied to a king-size bed sheet folded in half with arm and neck holes cut out.

“I used to do it by hand,” he said. “I was super happy with how it turned out. There was a learning curve.”

As of Monday night, the Jays trail the best-of-seven series 2-1 after a dramatic 6-5, 18-inning loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodgers Stadium. It tied the longest game in post-season history.

Porath is hoping the Jays can finish the series before Saturday’s CFL East Semifinal, when the Bombers head to Montreal to face the Alouettes.

Fans eager to spot the towering Blue Jays Santa can find him along Warde Avenue near Paddington Road in the River Park South neighbourhood.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca