Thousands of Santas and a few Grinches hit the streets for annual SantaCon bar crawls
Santa Clauses are coming to town
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Santa Clauses are coming to town.
Thousands of Kris Kringles and jolly Old St. Nicks are jamming streets, sidewalks and bars from Adelaide to Vancouver on Saturday for annual SantaCon charity pub crawls.
In New York City, where temperatures hovered around freezing, the fermented merriment kicked off around 10 a.m. and was slated to stretch into the evening.
Santas – along with people dressed as Grinches, elves or other holiday characters – strolled to bars and clubs from midtown Manhattan to the East Village, flooding the streets with a crimson tide of Christmas cheer.
“The NYC SantaCon is a charitable, non-commercial, non-political, nonsensical Santa Claus convention that happens once a year to spread absurdist joy,” the organizers’ website explained.
SantaCon participants are encouraged to donate $15 to enter participating venues. Organizers say the money will go to charity.
Similar Christmas-themed booze fests were being held Saturday in about 50 cities around the globe, including London, Phoenix, Winnipeg and San Francisco. Some placed held their SantaCons on Friday, last weekend or late last month. More are scheduled throughout December.
New York City police posted reminders on social media that open containers are prohibited in the streets and that blocking pedestrian and car traffic can lead to a summons. They also encouraged people attending the event to have a designated driver.
Commuter rail lines in the region banned passengers from drinking on board.