Sleigh from Will Ferrell's 'Elf' movie leaving Long Island home for NYC event marking 20th anniversary

Santa Claus isn't the only celebrity coming to town this holiday season.

The iconic 1-ton sleigh featured in the film "Elf," complete with its Kringle 3000 Jet Engine and Clausometer, is set to make its spirited return to New York City from its Suffolk County home on Sunday, in honor of the film's 20th anniversary.

"If people have seen the movie, it's gonna bring a smile to their face," said Larry Northcote, fire manager and volunteer firefighter with the Halesite Volunteer Fire Department,  located in the Town of Huntington.

The sleigh will temporarily leave the firehouse around 8:30 a.m., receiving a VIP escort from New York State Police. It will travel through the Queens Midtown Tunnel — reminiscent of how Will Ferrell's Buddy the Elf entered New York City by walking through the Lincoln Tunnel in the 2003 Christmas comedy. 

As it heads down Fifth Avenue, NEST New York's Holiday fragrance of pomegranate, mandarin orange, pine, cloves and cinnamon will mist from lamppost wreaths. 

It will be on display in front of Bergdorf Goodman at 754 Fifth Ave. from noon until 6 p.m, and open for photo ops. 

The sleigh permanently resides at the Halesite firehouse. Every holiday season, it is taken out of the station's lower level by truck and polished. It attracts hundreds of visitors.

TV and documentary producer Mark Bozek, a Huntington Bay resident, donated the sleigh to the department in December 2003 after purchasing it for $12,000 in an internet auction. He said the movie had touched him.

"I'm a complete believer in hope and spirit," said Bozek. "It had all these metaphors attached to 'It's A Wonderful Life,' with Buddy on the bridge, and all of those sort of feel-good things that just make you smile."

He said the firehouse seemed a more appropriate home for the sleigh than his own house, because it "should be seen everywhere" and taken care of properly.

"When you have a volunteer fire department who works so hard and they're incredibly good at it, I just thought this was a natural thing," he said.

Northcote, who played Buddy the Elf for about a decade in the Town of Huntington Holiday Parade, said the community looks forward to seeing Buddy and the sleigh every year.

"There's 112 fire departments on Long Island," he said. "But we're the one with the 'Elf' sleigh, which is pretty special."

Bozek said he "always wanted" to bring the sleigh to Manhattan, and the film's 20th anniversary is a perfect time.  In partnership with Fifth Avenue Association, On Location Tours, and NEST New York, Bozek is ecstatic to share the community cheer of his own Bedford Falls with more people.

"If there's ever a time when we need some smiles, it's now," he said.