SantaCon New York 2015 gets a re-vamp!
After years and years of bad image due to drunk New Yorkers dressed as Santa Claus causing all kinds of havoc and mayhem in the Big Apple, organizers of the international pub crawl have made some changes.
For the first time ever, organizers of SantaCon New York 2015 shared their route before this year's merry-making (and hopefully non-violent) event.
The Santas met up at McCarren Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn - the very first time this happened since for the past few years, SantaCon's starting point had always been Manhattan.
Aside from that, SantaCon New York 2015 has been working closely with the New York Police Department (NYPD) about a month ago to come up with a jolly and safe event, agreeing on routes that wouldn't stand in the way of the rest of the New York population, getting a permit to assemble and even agreed to tweet messages from the police about pedestrian safety, CBS reported.
Update: the full moon is out in Williamsburg for #SantaCon https://t.co/aadkTXa4uq (pic via https://t.co/D4RSMDyYRw) pic.twitter.com/c3FTKjb2zF
— Gothamist (@Gothamist) December 12, 2015
This, according to the organizers of SantaCon 2015, is to change the negative public notions formed over previous SantaCons where participants have been involved in street brawls, damaged public and private property, caused traffic and others. "This year we hope to have a very positive SantaCon," Civil rights lawyer, Norman Siegel said. "SantaCon is a cultural public commentary on the Christmas season, from a critique of consumerism to cultural and charitable giving," Siegel said in another interview. "It's part satire and has an edge."
Oh My, Santa Con on https://t.co/DnDhKMbc6J @santacon @dotnyc #santacon 5 Days away! Is your Inner Santa ready ?! pic.twitter.com/yYgmS8VuFu — .NYC Meetup (@MeetupDotnyc) December 7, 2015
"We're in the process of an image change, and we are hoping we can do something that would be much more family friendly," Jim Glaser, one of the organizers of the pub crawl told The New York Times.
"There is no Christmas parade in New York," he added. "If we could create a tradition that would last much longer than this bad impression of drunken Santas, that would be wonderful."
Glaser, 51, was one of the few people who participated in the very first SantaCon 15 years ago. It started as a movement condemning the commercialization of Christmas.
"It was really this cool, underground, edgy thing where it was clearly an absurdist attempt to flip the commercialness of Santa on its head," Glaser said.
Meanwhile, the NYPD has kept vigilant during this year's SantaCon. They had also disseminated public reminders to keep in mind during the bar crawl.
Don't forget -- He knows when you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. #SantaCon pic.twitter.com/VEYYTPIuAm
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 12, 2015
