Hundreds in costumes revel at festive SantaCon

After years and years of bad image due to drunk New Yorkers dressed as Santa Claus causing all kinds of havoc and mayhem in the Big Apple, organizers of the global pub crawl have made some changes.

Officers on the ground kept watch and an NYPD helicopter circled overhead. “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”.

Tracing its origins to a prankish, anti-consumerist gathering in San Francisco in 1994, SantaCon has mushroomed into events in hundreds of cities. In 2012 and 2013, some Santas got into some street fights and got arrested while other 85 received summonses for misbehavior.

Siegel said last year’s SantaCon counted no arrests or summonses; police said they had no information on any.

After several years of defending the massive bar hop, organizers started planning with police over a month ago.

“We have fun”, Pirolli said.

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

A dozen state and city politicians this week pressed SantaCon to “self-police” participants and asked the State Liquor Authority to station investigators along the route. “This year we hope to have a very positive SantaCon”, Civil rights lawyer, Norman Siegel said.

The traveling event starts in Williamsburg and ends in the East Village.

“We are in trying times all throughout the world, and to have to expend more resources on an event like this, at times, it’s frustrating”, O’Neill said. NYPD Chief James O’Neill suggested the event was a burden at a time of heightened security concerns after attacks by extremists in Paris and elsewhere. If you want to participate to SantaCon and receive a pin, you should donate at least $10. Including 4-year-old Aliana as Princess, yes, Sleigha. “Its origins are based on festivity, regardless of religion or beliefs”.

“There is no Christmas parade in NY”, he added. Organisers of the annual Santacon pub crawl say they’re taking more steps than ever to deter naughty behaviour.