At eight months old, baby Olive is already a Christmas pro.
Relaxed and calm in a red collar festooned with jingle bells, the 140-pound reindeer gazes into camera after camera at a holiday meet-and-greet in DeKalb. She lets children pose with her, pet her and give her scratches.
From time to time, she even returns the love, her fluffy nose nudging gently as she moves in for a reindeer kiss.
Olive, performing today with Santa and four other reindeer, belongs to one of the Chicago area’s most unusual showbiz families: the 10-member herd at Whispering Pines Reindeer Ranch in Shabbona. Originally purchased to promote Randy and Beth Espe’s Christmas tree farm, the reindeer got lassoed into performing at a suburban mall in 2018, and apparently never looked back.
Allie Maxwell holds a reindeer named Opal as her husband, Dolan Maxwell, holds Dash during a Christmas-themed open house for families of first responders, Dec. 9, 2021, in DeKalb. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Today, they show up for more than 30 holiday gigs a season, alongside the energetic Espes and their helpful friends and family, several of whom arrive in full elf regalia. At a recent event at a Downers Grove garden center, more than 200 people lined up to meet the reindeer; in La Grange Park, the line continued for four hours — with up to 80 people waiting at a time.
Randy Espe, 62, a farmer, retired seed business owner and self-described “animal nut,” said he got interested in reindeer while researching ways to market the family Christmas tree farm.
“I just fell in love with them. They nuzzle up to you. They’re like big puppies,” he said.
This time of year can get hectic, with as many as 10 appearances a week at tree lightings, malls, customer appreciation events, country clubs and private residences. But Espe, who sports a frosty white beard of nearly Santa-worthy proportions, smiles when he talks about how kids’ eyes get big when they come around the corner and see their first real-life reindeer.
At a recent event, he said, a little boy in a wheelchair got particularly excited, smiling from ear to ear and clapping his hands.
“Those are the things that just kill you,” Espe said, tapping his heart. “It just makes it so fulfilling.”
Randy Espe kisses his reindeer Olive at his farm in Shabbona. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
There are only 1,000 to 2,000 reindeer in the United States, many of them purchased in small numbers by people with farming backgrounds who fall in love with the animals, according to Jeff Phillips, central region director for the 110-member Reindeer Owners & Breeders Association (ROBA). Growth has been slow but steady since the early 1990s, Phillips said, and today there are about 25 reindeer farms in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.
Many reindeer farms, including the venerable Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch in Rantoul, founded in 1995, specialize in on-site reindeer experiences.
But from the beginning, fate steered the Espes, who live 70 miles southwest of Chicago, in a different direction.
The family’s first four reindeer flew in from Alaska in fall 2018, with a little assist from a FedEx plane. Espe, an animal lover who has raised orphaned fawns and baby raccoons, planned to give the reindeer some time to acclimate to life in the lower forty-eight.
But that holiday season he got a desperate call from a mall in Chicago’s northwest suburbs. A reindeer supplier had backed out of an event at the last minute. Could the Espe herd could fill in?
Espe explained that his reindeer weren’t yet halter broken. But the woman on the phone persisted: she had already promoted the event. People were going to come, expecting to see reindeer. Wasn’t there anything that Espe could do?
Espe sprang into action, purchasing big red pens that could hold reindeer that weren’t ready for one-on-one meet-and-greets. He brought two reindeer to the mall, and excited humans fed and petted the animals from behind the safety of a fence.
“I knew right then, this is gonna be fun,” Espe recalled with a twinkle in his eye.
Today, Espe’s so-called retirement is busier than his working years. With 10 reindeer on the 80-acre Christmas tree farm — as well as turkeys, guinea fowl and miniature horses — he’s up early feeding the animals and holiday reindeer gigs can keep the family out until 11 p.m.
Still, Espe objects when a reporter refers to all the feeding, driving, tree-selling and manure-scooping as work; he’s doing what he loves, he said.
Randy Espe feeds his young reindeer at his farm, Whispering Pines Reindeer Ranch, on Dec. 10, 2021, in Shabbona. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
During the holidays, the Espes’ three daughters and sons-in-law — April and Max Mapes, Christine and Dolan Maxwell, and Emma and Sam Jennings — help with tree sales and reindeer appearances. All are partners in the tree farm and reindeer ranch.
The Espes are one of the largest suppliers of reindeer at holiday events in the Chicago region. A Zoo to You in Huntley does about 60 Chicago-area reindeer appearances a year, according to owner Corey Hancock. At Santa’s Village Azoosment & Water Park in East Dundee, the number of local gigs varies but averages about 10 a year, according to barn manager Christina Deming.
A highlight of Randy Espe’s reindeer experience has been his relationship with baby Olive, who was born on the farm April 15. Olive’s mother, Ruby, didn’t produce milk, so Espe set up a lawn chair in the garage and slept there, bottle feeding Olive every two hours for about 10 days.
As a result, Olive bonded with Espe, following him around like a dog.
On summer evenings, she would trot after him on the way to the mailbox. When Espe returned, settling on the porch with a glass of wine, Olive would lie down at his feet. She has tried to follow family members into the house – sometimes successfully — according to Espe’s daughter Christine Maxwell.
When Espe rides his utility vehicle across a field, Olive gallops alongside. When Espe gets home, Olive hears his car door slam and emits a honking call of greeting: “Aw! Aw!”
“She calls like, ‘Come see me,’ ” said Espe. “That’s my baby Olive.”
Archie, a 300-pound reindeer bottle-raised in Indiana, is similarly affectionate. His specialty is posing for selfies, his furry nose looming large in close-ups.
But even from a distance, the animals dispense their magic. From Espe’s kitchen table, four of the adult reindeer can be clearly seen in a fenced field, their pale antlers towering over their dark heads: There are the two females that Maxwell has dubbed the twin princesses — well-mannered Holly and Eve — as well as Kringle, the mischievous bull, and Jack, the social butterfly.
When it gets cold or snows, the reindeer will run loops, jump and twist, doing 180-degree turns in the air.
“Sitting here in the morning having coffee and watching that — that’s like as good as it gets,” Espe said.
On a Thursday night in DeKalb, the Espes are pulling out all the stops for the children of firefighters, police and paramedics.
Randy Espe prepares for a Christmas-themed open house for families of first responders, Dec. 9, 2021, in DeKalb. Five reindeer from Espe's Whispering Pines Reindeer Ranch were at the event. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The free event, which is hosted by DeKalb construction company Zenz Buildings and sponsored by the Espes, includes a gung-ho Santa with a handsome red suit and real snowy white beard, the Zenz family’s home-baked cookies, stockings for the kids, and three young reindeer: Olive and her pals Opal and Dash.
Archie, who starred in last year’s shows, has lost his antlers too early this year and has had to yield the spotlight to Holly. (Males typically lose their antlers in November or December, while females keep them until spring.)
But Archie is so good with crowds — and looks so crestfallen when he’s left behind — that today the Espes have brought him along. He greets visitors from a pen stationed by the door of a vast storage building, his mighty antlers displayed on the fence of his pen for all to see.
Holly, whose antlers are massive, gracefully branching, and still firmly attached, stands in another shiny red pen right next to Santa, calm, well-mannered and ready, as usual, for her close-up.
Weighing in at about 140 pounds, Olive and Opal aren’t much bigger than St. Bernards, but their oversized feet, fluffy cream and chocolate coats, big soft noses and miniature antlers draw wide-eyed children and eager parents, smartphones in hand.
Holly in a pen during an event in DeKalb. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Lily Fox, who is 1？ years old and lives in Hinckley, waves at Opal then darts toward her, patting her firmly on her right flank as the reindeer stands calmly.
Sammi Duda, 12, of DeKalb, pats Olive for a long time, then, as younger kids make a beeline for Santa, Duda spots Opal and takes the opportunity to pat her as well.
“She’s cute and fluffy and funny,” Duda says.
Maxwell says that common questions from young children include “Do they fly?” and “Are they magic?” and “Are they friends with my Elf on the Shelf?”
Adults are sometimes skeptical, perhaps because reindeer are so often presented as magical creatures.
“So now what is it, really?” parents will ask Maxwell when the kids are out of earshot.
With 225 visitors over the course of three hours at the DeKalb appearance, the Espes work in tandem, with Beth Espe greeting parents at the raffle table, Maxwell handling Opal, and Jacklyn Booma, 23, an employee and friend of the Espes, accompanying Olive. Both women are in full elf costume, and Maxwell introduces herself as her elf alter-ego, Ginger Bells.
Maxwell’s husband, Dolan Maxwell, leads Dash, who is successfully making his holiday meet-and-greet debut with a single antler, having already shed the other.
Espe, dressed in an embroidered red reindeer herder coat that reflects his Norwegian heritage, is everywhere, greeting parents and helpers, scooping reindeer droppings, putting down sawdust, and swooping in to help with a baby reindeer or encourage a child.
“Have you ever petted a baby reindeer before?” he asks a little boy who is standing back, considering his options. “Well, here’s your chance!”
nschoenberg@chicagotribune.com
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