North Pole, Alaska

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North Pole is a small city in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. It is part of the Fairbanks, Alaska metropolitan statistical area. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 1,778. The name "North Pole" is often applied to the entire area bounded by Fort Wainwright, Two Rivers, Alaska, and the Chena River Flood Control Project. Despite the name, the city is about 1,700 miles south of Earth's geographic North Pole. The city is a summertime attraction for tourists visiting nearby Fairbanks, and traveling to and from the Alaska Highway and Valdez. Its biggest attraction is a gift shop named Santa Claus House with the world's largest fiberglass statue of Santa Claus outside. Prior to Christmas each year, the USPS post office in North Pole receives hundreds of thousands of letters to Santa Claus, and thousands more from people wanting the town's postmark on their Christmas greeting cards to their families. It advertises the ZIP code 99705 as the ZIP code of Santa. Christmas-themed streets in North Pole include Santa Claus Lane, St. Nicholas Drive, Snowman Lane, and Kris Kringle Drive. Street lights in the city are decorated in a candy cane motif, and many local businesses have similar decorations. The city's firetrucks and ambulances are all red, while the police cars are all green. A past mayor, Jeff Jacobson, sent a letter (and a lump of coal) to U.S. Senator John McCain about a comment he made regarding why the city's "elves" needed money for a pork barrel project. The lump of coal inside a tin can was delivered to the offices of Senator McCain by local resident Jeff Turkel. The current mayor of North Pole is Doug Isaacson. The city council consists of six members serving staggered three-year terms, with municipal elections held each October. The mayor's term began October 2009 and ends October 2012.