ALTAMONT — Mike Houghton has a small dental lab in a converted garage at his home in Sprakers, but at this time of year, the equipment for making gold and porcelain crowns gets crowded out by Santa gear. Houghton plays Santa at many area events, including the Altamont Victorian Holiday.

He got his “first suit” in 1985, he says, when his two daughters were ages 3 and 4. He put it all on, including the beard and hat, and went into the girls’ room and tapped them gently on the shoulder. Once they were half-awake and had glimpsed him, he ran downstairs and jumped into bed, pulling off the beard and hat, before they could see him.

“After that, they both believed in Santa a lot longer than their friends did,” he recalls.

Houghton (who says his name is pronounced “ho-ho-HOton” and who is often called “Santa Mike”) has now playing Santa for 31 years. That first year, his role was limited to visits with neighbors who had children and to appearances at the corner store in nearby Charleston Four Corners. He would also do what he calls “fly-bys”: “drive and land somewhere and surprise children in small towns.”

These days, he performs everywhere from the Altamont Victorian Holiday to Joe Merli’s railroad car on Route 20 in Duanesburg. He’ll arrive by train at 5 p.m. next to Altamont’s library, the old train station, to cap the festivities on Dec. 13. He also visits nursing homes, fire department holiday celebrations, kindergartens, and youth-center parties.

Houghton performs at the Lexington Center in Gloversville — the Fulton County chapter of NYSARC Inc., a group that provides support for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities — at both the Christmas dance for clients and at the breakfast with Santa for employees and their families. He noted appreciatively that Lexington’s clients are “the biggest group of believers” who “believe in Santa their whole lives.”

Houghton also performs each year at the annual Santa Speedo Sprint on Albany’s Lark Street. Does he get into a mankini? “Oh no,” he laughs. “I have a son-in-law who’s on a workplace volleyball team. They’re all young and athletic. They wear the Speedos and pull me on a sleigh.”

That event, he said, is a big fundraiser for the Damien Center in Albany, a resource center for people living with HIV and AIDS. The Damien Center is close to his heart, he said; he had a brother who died San Francisco in 1985, not long after HIV first appeared. Whenever he receives any money for a Santa performance, he passes it on to either that organization or the Special Olympics.

Houghton and wife, Diane, have both coached volleyball for the Special Olympics for many years in Amsterdam and Gloversville. “We've found that to be very rewarding,” he said.

The Altamont Victorian Holiday event, he said, had always fascinated him, ever since he first heard about it. He has been playing Santa there for about five years now.

“It’s such an honor to be on the front of that train for a community like Altamont that cares so much for all of the families and their children, to put an event on like that,” Houghton said.

He added that the men working on the train are very safety-conscious about the kids being able to get into and out of the boxcar safely. Also, he said, he never feels rushed at that event. “I’m able to share a chuckle with each child,” he said.