ANNISTON — The Knox Foundation's Knox Holiday Spectacular was held Saturday evening at the Anniston High School Performing Arts Center, filling the December performance slot that the Alabama Ballet's annual production of The Nutcracker had occupied for forty-six consecutive years. Santa Claus lost the main event via pinfall in the seventeenth minute.

The Alabama Ballet did not respond to a request for comment.

Attendance was approximately 410, the best-attended event of the Knox Foundation's revival season. Several families with children were present. One child in the third row asked his mother, during the second bout, whether this was the ballet. His mother said it was not. She did not elaborate.

The evening's card consisted of five bouts with a holiday theme. Performers included "The Blizzard," billed as representing winter; "Jingle," a tag-team duo in matching green tights who won their bout by disqualification; and, in the main event, a performer identified in the program simply as Santa Claus. Santa's opponent, billed as "The Grinch" and wearing green face paint, won the championship via pinfall following what the referee described as "a legal three-count, conducted properly." Santa did not dispute the outcome.

Several audience members applauded. Others did not.

Knox Foundation board chair Brenda Colquitt called the evening "a tremendous success" and said she was "grateful for the community's openness." When asked whether the event was intended to replace the Nutcracker, Colquitt said the Foundation was "building something new" and preferred not to characterize the programming in terms of what it had replaced.

The Alabama Ballet's production of The Nutcracker ran at the Anniston High School Performing Arts Center from 1979 to 2024, forty-six consecutive years. It was attended by thousands of Calhoun County schoolchildren annually. Tickets for the final production sold out.

One subscriber who attended both the 2024 Nutcracker and Saturday's Knox Holiday Spectacular, reached by phone Sunday, said she had brought her granddaughter to both. The granddaughter, age seven, had been confused by Saturday's event but had enjoyed the kettle corn.

The Knox family was not in attendance.

The Green Tomato will continue to monitor the Knox Foundation's 2027 season. Subscriptions are available through the Foundation's website.