BY ALLEGRA HOBBS | Santacon — the roving bar crawl of revelers dressed in Santa Claus costumes — will descend on Williamsburg this Sat., Dec. 12, kicking off in McCarren Park and making its way through a series of venues that have agreed to host the boozy bro-fest, before moving on for its finale in the East Village and Lower East Side.
This week, Santacon released maps showing three different party “zones” for the Claus crawl and the times the naughty St. Nicks will be gathering there.
They’ll first gather in “Zone 1” at the McCarren Park football fields near Bedford Ave. and N. 10th St. at 10 a.m. before wandering between parties at select watering holes, including the nightclub Verboten, music venue the Hall, event space Villain and Mexican restaurant Viva Toro.
Then, in the afternoon, the Ain’t Nicks plan to head to Manhattan for more alcohol-fueled frolicking in “Zone 2,” the Lower East Side, where they’ll hit The Delancey and the DL, and “Zone 3,” the East Village and points north, where they’ll be swarming into Solas and Bar 13 and rocking the roof at 230 Fifth.
The event has a sordid reputation as a fratty puke-fest that has many neighborhoods and nightlife venues dreading the sight of red velvet — the fake Kris Kringles had to cancel their plans to storm Bushwick last year after the bars refused to host them.
But the event’s organizers claim they are cleaning up their image this year by working with local law enforcement and city agencies to ensure a safer rager.
Santacon honchos secured a permit from the city Parks department and met with police, according to civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, who the organizers hired last year to fight for their right to party.
Siegel, who witnessed much of 2014’s event and will come along for the walk on Saturday, claimed last year was already a vast improvement on the debauchery of Santacons past — there were no arrests or summonses — and that the organizers are committed to creating a more community-friendly, law-abiding event going forward.
“My sense is they are transitioning from what Santacon was to hopefully a more positive Santacon,” he said.
File photo by Jefferson Siegel
State Senator Brad Hoylman, once again, leading up to the event, took the lead among local politicians in working with Santacon’s organizers before to ensure they know that the community doesn’t want the partying to get out of hand. This year, the State Liquor Authority has agreed to try to monitor the boozy bacchanal, to make sure that bars are not serving people who are over-inebriated.
“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. “Fingers crossed that these measures will help contribute to a safe and hassle-free event for neighborhood residents and small businesses, alike.”
Similarly, thanks to the politicians’ pushing, this year Santacon released its route two days before the event, rather than at the last minute, as they always used to do.
“SantaCon needs to grow up,” Hoylman said before the officials had received word of the route. “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.”
With reporting by Lincoln Anderson
