SantaCon is coming to town: When to expect Santa-suited revelers in Pennsylvania
SantaCon is coming to town: When to expect Santa-suited revelers in Pennsylvania
(NEXSTAR) – The tree is up and the stockings are hung. But is it really Christmastime until a horde of 20-somethings in Santa hats are crawling from pub to pub, scream-singing the lyrics to popular holiday songs?
Lucky for you, plenty of SantaCon events are still scheduled for towns across the country in the coming weeks.
There are roughly 100 SantaCon gatherings currently listed on the SantaCon.info database, an online resource providing information on formally announced SantaCon events in the U.S. and beyond. But it’s also likely there are dozens of other Santa-themed pub crawls planned for additional cities, many of which may not operate under a “SantaCon” name.
What is SantaCon?
SantaCon is an informal gathering of folks dressed as Santa or wearing other festive attire, and usually (but not always) taking the form of a loose pub crawl through the town or city center.
It didn’t start that way, though.
Revelers take part in the annual SantaCon charity pub crawl on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023 in New York. (AP Photo/Andrew Meldrum)
SantaCon’s origins can be traced back to 1974, when a theater group in Copenhagen decided to stage an anti-consumerism demonstration by dressing in Santa outfits and handing out items they swiped from a department store’s shelves, The New York Times reported. A few years later, the founder of an underground club in San Francisco suggested a similar event, but the group didn’t act on it until 1994, when one of the members was inspired to organize a silly Santa-themed celebration after seeing a postcard featuring several Santa Clauses playing pool in a gay bar, according KQED, a San Francisco PBS member station.
The first SantaCon — known at the time as “Santarchy” or “Cheap Suit Santas” — was more law-abiding than the Copenhagen event, with a few dozen participants crashing Christmas parties, partaking in snowball fights, and even visiting a strip club while dressed in full Santa garb.
The group held another Santarchy in 1995, though the celebration took on a rowdier atmosphere thanks to the increased number of participants and the prevalence of alcohol, KQED reported.
“It was not ever intended as a pub crawl, ever,” Rob Schmitt, one of the brains behind San Francisco’s 1994 Santarchy event, once remarked in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar.
In the years that followed, organizers in nearby regions began hosting their own gatherings. The then-budding internet soon helped SantaCon became a nationwide phenomenon.
When is SantaCon coming to my town?
SantaCon.info currently lists events in nearly every state through Dec. 21. And in states that aren’t listed, there’s still a good chance that revelers can find information on local Santa-themed meet-ups on social media.
Info on routes, times and tickets can be found at SantaCon.info, and usually in private Facebook groups created for each event. Some are also donating a portion of ticket sales (if tickets are required) to charity, or asking participants to bring a toy to donate for their local toy drives.
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