Seasonal & Holidays
SantaCon Will Start in Williamsburg This Year: Source
Thousands of Santas will convene at McCarren Park and begin their annual bar hop on Bedford Avenue, an event organizer says.
UPDATE, Friday: The full SantaCon route has been revealed.
Original story below.
WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — A SantaCon organizer has confirmed to Patch that this year’s route will begin at McCarren Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and end in Manhattan’s East Village.
Thousands of costumed Santas will convene in the park for a photo op around 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 11, then head to nearby Williamsburg bars (in the vicinity of Bedford Avenue) to begin the cross-borough bar crawl, according to our source.
The exact route will be released via a yet-to-be-named media outlet on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Norman Siegel, the official SantaCon attorney, told Patch.
The drinking venues along SantaCon’s route were chosen weeks ago, then presented to (and approved by) various city agencies, Siegel said.
The event organizer who spoke to Patch said he expected thousands more Santas to show up this year than last year, owing in part to the warmer weather and in part to a more organized event format.
Participating Santas will receive SantaCon wristbands, which will grant them access to venues along the route, Siegel said. They’ll also receive text messages with safety alerts throughout the day.
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In years past, the SantaCon procession has earned a reputation for being a bit of a barf/blight mob. This year, 12 elected officials wrote a scathing and ominous letter to event organizers.
“Each holiday season, local elected officials, community boards and local precincts face a wave of complaints as the SantaCon bar crawl passes through their neighborhoods,” officials wrote. They also penned a second letter to venues hosting the Santas, warning them that they could have their liquor licenses pulled if things got too rowdy.
SantaCon has since issued a point-by-point response to the letters.
“I think they should loosen up a little,” Siegel said of the politicians who signed. “I know all of them, and they need to loosen up.”
“There’s no denial that there were negative aspects in the past. I’ve seen all the bad videos,” he added. “But we’re trying to transition from that to something much more positive.”
We’ll be updating this page with all the SantaCon 2015 route details as we receive them. Check back for the latest.
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