New Yorkers are bracing for the booze-fueled SantaCon parade to ring in the festive season by taking over the streets of Manhattan. 

Thousands of raucous red-clad partiers will descend on the Big Apple on Saturday, but many locals have come to dread the annual sight of rowdy Santas. 

Held each year across in cities across the globe, New York’s edition has become the epicenter of on the self-described concept of a ‘nonsensical Santa Claus convention’ that has no other intention other than ‘absurdist joy.’ 

But while participants may be happy to imbibe in more than just the holiday spirit, others feel that debauchery and arrests have sullied the event. 

Populated almost entirely by 20-somethings, the event’s insistence on alcohol has seen a number of distasteful incidents over the year 

SantaCon has caught the ire of some New York locals and businesses as the alcohol-filled parade has a reputation for descending into debauchery 

Ahead of the expected blowout, New York City’s transit police announced a city-wide ban on alcohol on subway platforms and trains, an attempt to limit those who may have had too many spiked egg nogs. 

‘Ensuring everyone has access to safe and orderly travel is always a priority,’ MTA Police Chief John Mueller said. ‘The holiday season is a wonderful time of year, and we want everyone to get to their destination smoothly and on time while enjoying the festivities.’

Upwards of 30,000 people are estimated to take part each year, shutting down a huge swath of the city from Times Square down to the East Village. 

For locals, the surge in public intoxication, projectile vomiting and urination is not especially merry. 

A number of bars that would surely see a surge in business have boycotted the parade over the years and turned away anyone in a Santa suit – hoping to avoid similar scenes to 2019 when one reveler reportedly peed in the middle of a McDonald’s in front of a child. 

A wild brawl between a group of Santas was caught on camera in 2018, while in 2016 a Santa hitched an illicit ride on the back of a fire truck, leading the person who shared the image to sum up the feelings of many in New York: ‘Make this day end.’ 

In 2013, New York police lieutenant John Cocchi, in an open letter to NYC bars, called on businesses to boycott the event, taking aim at ‘thousands of intoxicated partygoers roam the streets urinating, littering, vomiting and vandalizing.’ 

A long list of incidents that landed attendees on the naughty list led Curbed Magazine to praise how, when the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the US economy in 2020, the cancelation of Santa Con was ‘a single bright spot’ worth celebrating. 

For those looking to understand why a fun-filled day of alcohol could anger New Yorkers, a scathing New York Times op-ed from 2013 attempted to sum it up.

Comparing the day to ‘spoiled eggnog’, the ‘obnoxious’ event was slammed for losing its counter-culture roots, concluding that ‘participating in the Big Apple’s version of SantaCon is about as anti-establishment as a trip to Disney World.’

Ironically, the parade’s reputation as an obnoxious, marketing-filled drinking campaign is a long way from its roots. 

The Big Apple was not always running the show, as SantaCon – which now covers over 300 cities and 44 countries – dates its history back to Scandanavia in the 1970s. 

Every year, thousands of boozy Santas embark on a huge pub crawl through the streets of Manhattan, pictured on December 10, 2021 

The parade is ostensibly a charity event, sending huge numbers of young people through the Big Apple to ring in the festive season  

The dizzying celebrations have led to a number of arrests and brawls in recent years, as residents complain of widespread public intoxication and urination 

Many see the pub crawl as a harmless, once-a-year event to let off steam, but not everyone agrees as even bars have boycotted the commotion 

A butch Santa took to the streets in 2021 (pictured) as the parade returned from the Covid-19 pandemic 

Ironically, the annual event’s origins lie in anti-establishment and anti-commercial notions, a feeling that many feel has been lost in the boozy extravaganza 

Two Santas may have laded themselves on the naughty list as they pass out on the sidewalk in Manhattan in 2018 

One reveler dressed as the Grinch in 2021 to ring in the festive season, before having too much to drink and being handed water by one of Santa’s elves in 2021 

Beginning as a performance art protest in Denmark, the first of the conventions was a political demonstration in contrast to the event’s current insistence on being ‘non-political.’ 

Danish art collective ‘Solvognen’ decided in 1974 to protest perceived inequalities in society in a bizarre way, with 75 members dressing as Santa pretending to slowly understand more about the consumerism and greed ruining the holiday, reports Vox.

At first day the protests were fun and easygoing, including Santas being serenaded by angels on the streets of Copenhagen. 

By the end of their days-long performance art piece, Solvognen had worked themselves into a frenzy, and were destroying buildings with pickaxes while Santas flung out presents for free. 

Scenes of anarchist Santas being arrested became iconic in Denmark, and the ‘Santa Claus army’ (Julemandshæren) was even officially added to the Denmark Culture Canon to name it as a landmark moment in the country’s cultural history. 

A Mother Jones article on the phenomenon in 1977 caught attention overseas, and a San Francisco secret society known as the ‘Cacophony Society’ eventually held its own version in 1994.  

Santas reportedly caused chaos as they snuck into parties and disrupted holiday bashes, described by a member in 2014 as ‘a little mocking of a bulls*** holiday which was demonstrably based on an unholy alliance of religious hypocrisy and mercantile lust.’ 

Although initially meant to be a one-time-thing, the campaign quickly escalated, sometimes dubbed as ‘Santarchy.’

While Santa Con dates back in some form to 1974 in Scandanavia, it took off in America in the late 90’s as the nation was swept into ‘Santarchy’ 

New York City is the epicenter of the annual event, but it has now stretched to over 300 cities across 44 countries 

A number of arrests and unsavory incidents have littered the parade in years past, as many in the city have come to despise and avoid the event 

By 1966, Oregon had joined the fun thanks to its own Cacophony Society, before SantaCon parades were almost nationwide by 2000 as they became synonymous with pub crawls.

The pub crawl – where participants trawl from bar to bar drinking as much as they can – has also seen the event become dominated by alcohol, rivalling Halloween and St Paddy’s Day as the heaviest days on the drinking calendar. 

Usually populated by 20 and 30-somethings, SantaCon is ostensibly a charity event, as organizers in New York urge attendees to donate $15 to take part, although it does not appear mandatory. 

For those who may act like a Grinch at the boozy parade, the organizers have placed six rules to join: Don’t mess with kids, cops, bar staff, yourself, the charity mission or the Big Apple. 

New York City serves as the global hub of the day’s partying, working in a similar way to the city’s huge Thanksgiving and St Paddy’s Day parades as other metros hold their own smaller jamborees. 

This has also caught the ire of both New York residents and law enforcement, with the one of the rowdiest recent editions coming in 2015 when five Santas were arrested. 

Organizers have tried to turn the event around, and insisted the year after it was cancelled by the Covid-19 pandemic that it had ‘changed significantly for the better.’

Whether it has actually changed in the last two years may depend on who you ask, but the organizers insisted that despite its flaws, Santa Con is carried out in the right spirit. 

‘We agree that there is no excuse for inappropriate behavior including public drunkenness, urination, or rude behavior,’ SantaCon said.

“This is not only prohibited by the stated rules of the event, but actively discouraged by the crowds of Santas themselves, who are, for the most part, responsible, creative, community-minded New Yorkers. NYC Santa realizes that he has a responsibility to New York City and its citizens.’