Hundreds hit pubs for SantaCon in Williamsburg

Welcome to SantaCon, the annual Christmastime costume-parade-meets-pub-crawl that was hoping this year would persuade NY it’s more nice than naughty.

That’s welcome news to Lower East Side residents who say they bear the brunt of the onslaught, with drunken revelers urinating, puking and passing out throughout the neighborhood. “An organization that brings over 25,000 people to our neighborhoods should show us respect by sharing its routes with community boards and local elected officials and working together with us well in advance to determine how we can mitigate the negative impacts of this bar crawl on our local communities and small retail businesses, whose annual sales depend heavily on this time of year”. After they first merry singing through the streets were songs and their Christmas wishes had asked passers-by, she began finally to get gifts from the shelves of stores and distribute.

All in all, the SantaCon this year will hopefully prove the organizers’ efforts weren’t for nothing and that the event is indeed what it was meant to be: a public display of joy in the name of Christmas.

Mary Altaffer/AP A bouncer stands next to a sign professing love for Santacon hanging in the window of the Continental bar in NY.

SantaCon grew from a 1994 San Francisco “Santarchy” that satirized Christmas consumerism into bashes in over 300 cities. But the backlash appears to have eased as organizers have worked to re-brand the event as a good-spirited fundraiser for charity. SantaCon came to NY in 1998, when a “young San Franciscan strapped on a fake white beard, donned a $12 red suit, and led 200 Santas as they went caroling up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan”, to the delight of passersby.

It’s also drawn criticism, particularly after the 2012 and 2013 celebrations generated two arrests, 85 summonses for disorderly conduct and other offenses, and online videos of brawling St. Nicks.

It’s also the first year Metro North is banning alcohol on all trains during the event. Not terror. Not vomit. Even so, there were no arrests or summonses issued a year ago, Siegel said. He’s been going to SantaCon since 2009.

“I’m very pleased the State Liquor Authority agreed to my request along with other elected officials to put licensees on notice of their responsibilities and add inspectors along the route of the bar crawl”, Hoylman said. “It is the kind of vibe I want to be around”.