This article was previously published on EloraFergusToday.
FERGUS – Getting to embody a Christmas character he loves makes a Fergus man’s heart grow three times the size, especially now that he gets to take the character on the road around the province.
Fergus resident Gordon Nicholson’s Grinch-inspired character The Local Grump is having a big year this Christmas season as he’s taking it on the road around Ontario malls.
Being involved in improv and musical theatre when he was younger, Nicholson got involved with a production management company who work with malls and would do characters for them.
He said The Grump first started as more of a mascot-like character back around 2018 but Nicholson began to get into prosthetics and would incorporate that into his Halloween costumes before deciding he can do an homage to his “favourite person.”
“As a kid I was obsessed with Jim Carrey and when he did The Grinch he embodied it, he made it more animated … he made it real,” said Nicholson who has a tradition of watching this version of The Grinch the first night before he takes on The Local Grump character.
It started small scale as a one-off event before it gradually grew and this year Nicholson will take The Local Grump to nine cities, some local such as Guelph, Kitchener or Fergus but also north to Sudbury, Peterborough and Ottawa.
“There’s always such an excitement, I can’t even tell you how many people come out like it’s hundreds and hundreds of people waiting when I get there,” Nicholson said. “It’s non-stop people coming to take pictures and say hi, I get gifts, it’s crazy.”
Nicholson said he thinks the Grinch has become more popular again with the recent animated version and those who grew up with the live action version are nostalgic for it.
“It’s just such a different experience than Santa, Santa is more tame in a way,” Nicholson said, adding he thinks most malls have never had another character besides Santa or a princess.
Nicholson said he enjoys playing The Local Grump as an outlet for getting back into improv but also takes it seriously.
“I just love the reactions that people have and how special it is for other people, especially kids when they’re just so excited to see you and they’re like ‘oh my gosh you’re here, you’re real,’” he said. “This time of year sometimes people need that pickup because the holidays aren’t always cheerful for everybody.”
Nicholson has a lot of fun as The Local Grump but he admitted it is a lot of work which he doesn’t take a break from while he’s doing it and putting on the professional prosthetics and costume takes about two hours.
“It moves with your expressions because it’s made of foam latex, so it feels like real skin when you touch it,” he said.
Nicholson expects the character to get even bigger next year and intends to take it to more cities.
“Sometimes I pinch myself thinking ‘I get to do this’ because it’s just random, it just happened to me organically and it’s such a fun outlet for me,” Nicholson said. “It’s also so, so rewarding. I can’t even explain it.”
The Local Grump will be in his hometown Fergus on Dec. 21 and 22 at the Big Brothers Big Sisters Centre Wellington office at 900 Tower St. S. from noon to 1 p.m. doing photos for donations to the organization.
