NEW YORK– Santa Clauses are coming to town.
Thousands of Kris Kringles and cheerful Old St. Nicks populate the streets, sidewalks and bars Adelaide to Vancouver on Saturday for the annual charity pub crawls at SantaCon.
In New York City, where temperatures hovered around freezing, the fermented merriment started around 10 a.m. and would last into the evening.
Santa Clauses – along with people dressed as Grinches, elves or other Christmas characters – walked into bars and clubs from downtown Manhattan to the East Village, flooding the streets with a crimson wave of Christmas cheer.
“The NYC SantaCon is a charitable, non-commercial, non-political, nonsensical Santa Claus convention that takes place once a year to spread absurdist joy,” according to the organizers’ website.
SantaCon attendees are encouraged to donate $15 to enter participating locations. Organizers say the money will go to charity.
Similar Christmas-themed drinking parties were held Saturday in about 50 cities around the world, including London, Phoenix, Winnipeg and San Francisco. Some held their SantaCons on Friday, last weekend or late last month. More are planned in December.
New York City Police Department reminders posted on social media that open containers are prohibited on the street 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 railroads in the region banned passengers from drinking on board.