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Aug 17, 2025

Beloved Duluth crane operator retires

DULUTH, Minn. (Northern News Now) - For more than 50 years, Duluth’s Kraemer Construction has been a family-owned business. On Friday, the company passed the business to the third generation, as a

DULUTH, Minn. (Northern News Now) - For more than 50 years, Duluth’s Kraemer Construction has been a family-owned business.

On Friday, the company passed the business to the third generation, as a family member retired.

Bruce Kraemer, known locally as the “Santa Claus crane operator” who installs the Christmas tree on Lake Superior Plaza in Downtown Duluth, is stepping away after decades in the role.

Bruce has worked odd jobs for his father’s construction company since he was a kid. He became a crane operator thanks to some other workers.

“One of the old operators would say ‘come here for a minute’ and ‘get in there, I’m tired, you do it’ and I was like ‘oh god I have to do this’, but after a while it was no big deal,” Bruce said.

For the next few decades, Kraemer operated cranes that weighed up to 300 tons. While the role does have its perks, Kraemer said it also requires extra caution.

“Everybody’s like ‘oh you got an easy job, you just sit in there with the air conditioning’, but it’s a mental thing too, I got to watch everybody,” Kraemer said.

One of his jobs was to put up the Christmas Tree in Downtown Duluth. There was always news coverage on the tree itself, but never the man putting it up.

“So, I said to my wife, ‘Why don’t you get a Santa suit?’ and I’ll wear a Santa suit, and then it started to get on the news more,” Bruce said.

He’ll still plan on being Santa, but he is passing the job of crane operator to the next generation.

“I’m taking on the role of looking at jobs now more, scheduling jobs, I’m doing a lot more for the company as well as running the cranes,” said Bruce Kraemer’s son, Eric.

And of course, his son learned from the best.

“I call me the A team and him the B team, but I guess he’ll have to be the A team now,” Bruce said.

He plans on drag racing, cooking, and of course, helping his family when they need him.

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