Tuesday, November 14, 2023
You have 24 days to enjoy the holiday season before SantaCon
Thursday, December 8, 2022
SantaCon 2022 route revealed
"Every year we get a lot of press that shines a negative light on SantaCon. I understand and certainly it'll get more clicks." But, she said, some of the coverage felt a little unfair, focused on specific incidents from a decade ago."People have all kinds of preconceived notions about what we are and why we do it," Galeani said. "A lot of it stems from bad press that we got a long time ago, and that’s a bummer."
"It's definitely not a pub crawl because there is no order and you don't have to drink." Many bars, Galeani said, will serve mocktails. The biggest misunderstanding, of course — the one that goes beyond definitions and logistics — is that folks just don't get SantaCon.SantaCon is about "community and absurdity and the holiday spirit," said Galeani. She marveled at its ability to take over a place as big as New York City with sheer silliness. It is open to everyone.
Apparently, the MTA didn't get the "it's not a pub crawl" memo. The MTA is banning booze on LIRR and Metro-North Trains and stations for 32 Hours for SantaCon (from 4 a.m. Saturday to noon Sunday).
Monday, October 31, 2022
SantaCon 2022 is now on the clock
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Reports: Did SantaCon contribute to NYC's current COVID-19 surge?
Manhattan unfortunately now has highest covid rate in NYC.
— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) December 18, 2021
This is partly because we test more. But this should serve as a warning about how much omicron is out there. Be especially cautious about indoor gatherings where masks come off. (And yes SantaCon may partly be to blame.) pic.twitter.com/DoSOidFhkq
Last year, SantaCon was thankfully canceled due to the pandemic. This year, there's still a pandemic — not to mention a highly contagious variant spreading — but like many other holiday gatherings that now seem ill-advised, it happened anyway despite fears it had all the makings of a super-spreader event. And now, surprise: #santacon TikTok is flooded with people who attended and have since tested positive for COVID-19.
The Cut assembled a collection of the SantaCon-COVID clips on TikTok.
[S]ince last weekend — which saw the return of SantaCon, NYC's biggest event of debauchery and drunken revelry — many a New Yorker's phones have blown up with texts from friends saying they'd been exposed to Covid. Positivity rates have doubled in the past three days, with cases in the city up more than 40 percent in one day, recording the highest one-day total since January 14.
To be sure, SantaCon isn't entirely to blame for the Omicron wave. Companies have been holding in-person holiday parties and NYC nightlife has been back to normal for quite some time. Health restrictions, like mask mandates and social distancing, have been increasingly disregarded.
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Weekend's parting shot
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
SantaCon announces 2021 route; East Village in the crosshairs once again
SantaCon is the worst day of the year in New York City. Each year thousands of belligerent drunk people in Santa costumes flood New York City streets, leaving behind a trail of fistfights, vomit, urine and garbage. John Oliver did a segment on the event which highlighted the faux-charitable nature of the pub crawl. He stated that each SantaCon participant only raises $1.66 for charity, which is hardly enough to excuse the violent and inappropriate behavior. The evidence is crystal clear: Santacon does more bad than good.This year New York City residents have had enough! We are calling for Mayor Bill de Blasio to show leadership and order the cancelation of Santacon. We believe that this is an issue that unites New Yorkers of all races, religions, and political beliefs.Please sign this petition so we can end SantaCon in New York City once and for all.
Oh, and here's the John Oliver segment from December 2019 mentioned in the petition ...Dare I say that I’m aligned? https://t.co/u7cybp4GDL pic.twitter.com/x9Twdjp67x
— Gossip Girl (@gossipgirl) December 5, 2021
Tuesday, November 2, 2021
Ho, ho, no! SantaCon slated for Dec. 11
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Oh Santa
Friday, November 27, 2020
There won't be an official SantaCon this year
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
A call to cancel SantaCon
Steven spotted this poster this morning on the former Bean space on First Avenue and Ninth Street... a call to cancel SantaCon, which takes place this coming Saturday at unknown locations. (Their party yachts plan sunk.)
The poster ask several questions, including: "Sick of drunken Santas throwing up and urinating everywhere?"
If so, then there is a Cancel SantaCon petition that you can find here.
The posters are from @tglnyc, who brought us the "McTrump Value Meal" yesterday at McDonald's.
Monday, July 29, 2019
Ho, ho, ho now there's a SantaCon lawsuit
[Photo from 2018 by Derek Berg]
There’s no place like a courtroom for the holidays.
A pub crawl promoter, named as Eddie Miller in public documents and published reports, filed suit Friday in a Manhattan Federal Court seeking control over the SantaCon.org internet domain and its trademark registration.
Law360 has the details:
Miller's suit targets a business called Participatory Safety Inc., claiming its "SantaCon" mark is invalid and seeking an order that it may not assert control over domain names such as santacon.com and santacon.net.
"SantaCon is a descriptive, if not generic, term," the suit says. Miller also claims for damages, saying his business interests have been unlawfully disrupted.
According to Miller's suit, the defendant registered the domain name santacon.nyc in 2015, then applied for the SantaCon mark the following year, for use at "charitable fundraising" events.
Not long after that, persons unknown to Miller begin telling city pub owners that they were the "official SantaCon," says the suit, which presumably will attempt to name additional defendants.
"Whoever spoke to the bars told them not to do business with plaintiffs," according to the suit. In late 2016, persons unknown to Miller then emailed pubs, falsely calling him an impostor, according to the suit.
That year, a person going by the alias Kristopher Kringle attempted to force bar owners to pay him $400 per bar to allow SantaCon crawlers to enter their establishments, the suit says. That person, the suit says, is part of the defendant company's "smear campaign."
"Defendants' malicious acts have caused and continue to injure plaintiffs' ability to sell tickets to their SantaCon events all over the United States," the complaint says.
The suit also sheds light on the driving forces behind SantaCon, which Ben Yakas at Gothamist describes as the "city's stupidest annual event, a cultural void that provides an excuse for binge drinkers and obnoxious bros to let their alcoholism fly in public, all under the thin veneer of charity."
The Daily News listed the plaintiffs as Miller, Digital Marketing & Events, USMarketing.com and Damon's List.
For future reference: The case is Miller et al. v. Participatory Safety Inc. et al., case number 1:19-cv-06994, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Meanwhile, here's the NYC date for SantaCon 2019...
H/T Carol from East 5th Street!
Saturday, December 8, 2018
SantaCon 2018
A few scenes from SantaCon today in the East Village... Derek Berg took these photos...
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A reader shared this from Second Avenue at Ninth Street outside the Step (former 13th Step), which, as always, seemed to be the center for SantaCon (even if it wasn't on the list on SantaCon bars) ...
... and EVG reader Sonya shared this from the
Updated 12/9
A reader shared this photo from yesterday on Second Avenue and 15th Street ... some Santas in an Uber headed to East Village bars, but not before making a pit stop...
Another sick Santa on Second Avenue near Ninth Street...
[Photo via @mishamc]
There are several reports of fights and assaults on the Citizen app from yesterday, though only one specifically mentioned Santas...
Not sure of the exact location of this street brawl...
IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR pic.twitter.com/9kzVBGQFC9
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) December 9, 2018
Friday, December 7, 2018
ICYMI: Here comes SantaCon
[Image via @SantaCon]
As you likely heard by now, SantaCon 2018 is tomorrow (Saturday).
The woo-hooery starts tomorrow (still Saturday) at 10 a.m. at Plaza 33, 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue.
From there, the Santas will fan out across Midtown, Murray Hell, Midtown East, et al. Once again, the East Village will serve as a host planet for the harvesting. There are 15-plus participating bars — list here. (The 13th Step/The Step isn't on the list, though they usually have one of the longest lines of people in Santa hats.)
Solas on Ninth Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue and The VNYL on Third Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street are designated "Special Santa Venues," which require a $12 donation. As Gothamist noted, "they are larger and offer additional hellish delights such as undoubtedly terrible DJ, holiday decorations, 'sexy' bar games, rooftops, cash prizes, etc."
Meanwhile, some thoughts via Twitter... including a little campaigning for a mayoral run in 2021...
F O L K S we outlawed salt, soda and straws in this great city but santacon is still legal?? unbelievable
— Rachel Holliday Smith (@rachelholliday) December 3, 2018
BAN OUTLAW QUARANTINE.
— Corey Johnson (@CoreyinNYC) December 3, 2018
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
A campaign to #SitOutSantaCon
SantaCon is scheduled for Saturday... ahead of that, DiMassimo Goldstein, an NYC-based ad agency, along with Crew Cuts, a broadcasting and media production company, launched a #SitOutSantaCon campaign. (The website notes that the campaign is also brought to you by "Decent People Everywhere.")
And there's a video, described this way:
This year, tens of thousands of people will flood the streets for SantaCon in cities across America. Like every year, adults will see overserved Santas, inebriated elves and reckless Rudolphs.
But what will the children see?
The #SitOutSantaCon website features a variety of posters and GIFs to share...
Not taking part in SantaCon is one thing. It's a choice. One problem with SantaCon, depending on where you are, is that you don't have much of a choice of being surrounded by it if you decide to venture outdoors.
As Jason Gilbert wrote for the Times in 2013 (in calling for a ban):
Perhaps most distressing about SantaCon is its size and the way that it shuts down and befouls dozens of blocks. Any East Villager (I am one) can tell you that the event makes doing absolutely anything beyond one’s front stoop an impossibility, unless you own swamp waders and a riot shield.
And...
For a New York City event of its size, however, SantaCon is distinctive, and arguably impressive, in that it contributes absolutely zero value — cultural, artistic, aesthetic, diversionary, culinary or political — to its host neighborhood. Quite simply, SantaCon is a parasite.
As for SantaCon 2017, organizers have yet to divulge what neighborhoods they'll congregate in this year.
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Happenings 1 month from today
The 9th Annual Cookie Walk is set for Dec. 9-10 at St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church on Avenue A and 10th Street (find more details here)...
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Also on Dec. 9 — SantaCon... the location hasn't been disclosed yet, though the East Village is always a good possibility as the host...
Thursday, December 8, 2016
East Village venues playing host again to SantaCon
SantaCon organizers took to Twitter last evening to announce "the amazing Seven Spots of Santacon 2016," which takes place this Saturday starting at 10 a.m.
And those seven spot of SantaConning include two East Village venues, Solas and Webster Hall. The full list:
• Ainsworth Park, 111 East 18th St.
• 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar, 230 5th Ave.
• Slake, 251 West 30th St.
• Madison Square Tavern
• Webster Hall, 125 East 11th St.
• Bar 13, 35 East 13th St.
• Solas, 232 East 9th St.
The SantaConning participants will be spread far and wide. As Patch reported:
In addition to these core venues, around 50 participating bars will open their doors to the Santas and offer special SantaCon deals. Those bars — along with the route's exact starting point — will be announced [tonight].
The East Village also served as SantaCon central last year.
And from the archives last year, Gothamist interviewed the organizer of SantaCon, East Village resident Jim Glaser (not named here but in a subsequent feature in the Times).
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
SantaCon battle lines forming
... which is why battle lines are already forming...
Once again, the Continental at 23 Third Ave. near St. Mark's Place is welcoming the SantaConners...
...though the sign arrived some six weeks later than last year...
Meanwhile! Around the corner at 6 St. Mark's Place...
...Barcade has put up some No Santa signage...
And noted...their response to the amNewYork piece on how to avoid SantaCon...
🎅🏼 is a lover of free will, liberty and this great city! If you choose to avoid #SantaConNYC on 12/10 we respect your decision. #bahumbug https://t.co/kVCDZezO1q
— Santacon NYC (@santacon) November 29, 2016
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Noted
The organizer's of SantaCon have announced the date for this year's SantaCon — Dec. 10.
There's a Facebook event page to follow for more details. Not much is known now, such as what bars are participating this year and what other neighbors will be part of this.
Gothamist reports that it will start in Williamsburg. After that, who knows.
In 2015, SantaCon kicked off in McCarren Park before departing for the East Village.
The Daily News reported that the NYPD made five arrests and handed out an even 100 summonses — ranging from open container violations to disorderly conduct to public urination — during SantaCon in 2015.
Previously on EV Grieve:
SantaCon announces its path through the East Village for 2015
A SantaCon 2015 postmortem (first of several perhaps) and a look ahead to next year!
[Photo from SantaCon 2015 by Derek Berg]
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Tranquil June Sunday ruined by sight of Santa hats
Oh, the day wasn't ruined! Just a reminder that it's just six more months to SantaCon!
Photo on 7th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue by EVG Day Ruiner Correspondent Derek Berg