BY LINCOLN ANDERSON and ALLEGRA HOBBS | SantaCon — the roving bar crawl of revelers dressed in Santa Claus costumes — kicked off in Williamsburg on Saturday, before moving on for more alcohol-fueled fun in the Lower East Side and East Village, at venues like The Delancey, The DL, Solas and Bar 13. Organizers issued maps showing three party “zones,” with the Lower East Side and East Village being zones two and three.
SantaCon secured a Parks Department permit to gather in McCarren Park and met with police, according to civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, who the organizers hired last year to fight for their right to party.
“My sense is they are transitioning from what Santacon was to hopefully a more positive Santacon,” he said.
State Senator Brad Hoylman, once again, before the event, took the lead among local politicians in working with SantaCon’s organizers to ensure they understood that the community didn’t want the partying to get out of hand. This year, the State Liquor Authority also agreed to try to monitor the boozy bacchanal, to watch that bars were not serving people who were excessively intoxicated.
“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.
Similarly, thanks to the politicians’ pushing, this year SantaCon released its route two days before the event, rather than at the last minute, as usual.
“An organization that brings over 25,000 people to our neighborhoods should show us respect,” Hoylman said, “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.”
In the end, police made five arrests and handed out 106 summonses during this year’s SantaCon. Summonses were issued for open container violations, disorderly conduct and public urination, according to cops. Regarding the arrests, police said there was one assault, while another naughty St. Nick was charged with weapon possession and three others with drug possession.
One East Village bar owner wasn’t complaining about the white-bearded bar-crawling horde. “Packed with Santas all day and not one problem!” said Trigger, who runs the Continental. “We denied entry to just a couple of them later in the day ’cause they were already a little tipsy, but that happens every weekend anyway. My bartenders did great and were blown away by how well they did with tips. All in all, it was another great SantaCon!”
