Ho, ho, ho? No, no, no
Festively costumed pubcrawlers forgo SantaCon revelry this year
SantaCon, the annual gathering of revelers in Santa suits who spend a Saturday barhopping in downtown San Francisco, is another victim of the coronavirus pandemic.
Organizers say they will not promote the event this year. In a website post, they said that in light of the public health crisis, they are supporting “Santa’s effort to discourage large inperson gatherings.”
That statement came before California moved San Francisco into the purple tier of its economic blueprint, meaning a curfew is now in effect from 10 p. m. to 5 a. m., and all people are required to stay at home during those hours except for essential activities, including permitted jobs, grocery shopping, doctor visits and walking the dog or exercising. Not included on the list is parading down neighborhoods dressed as Santa.
The unofficial SantaCon usually occurs in major U. S. cities during early December. In the Bay Area, it was scheduled to take place on Dec. 12, beginning at Union Square Park in San Francisco.
Now, the organizers say, the best course of action is to “stay home and stay safe.” “This does not necessarily mean no event at all — it may be happening in a different form, with increased social distancing or it may even be virtual — but details will not be posted here,” they said in a statement.
The San Francisco tradition started with just a few dozen Santas in 1994 but has grown to include thousands of people sporting red velour suits — most of whom trek en masse to bars and restaurants.
The city has long struggled to contain the event. In 2018, when at least seven drunken Santas were arrested for public intoxication, the organizers warned revelers not to gather.
“The City and County of San Francisco has decreed that in their view, SantaCon has no place in San Francisco and the gathering should be shut down because ‘ there is a safety issue and Union Square cannot hold the people,’ ” facilitator Tom DiBell, also known as Santa Tom, wrote on the event website.
That same year, two women vandalized and struck an employee of a San Francisco restaurant after they were repeatedly asked to leave, according to police.
In recent years, DiBell has attempted to shift the focus of SantaCon toward such things as the toy drive or the bestdressed Santa competition.
Despite the warning, city officials worried that there was no way to prevent people from showing up in Union Square. The move into the purple tier changes that.
The move came after public health officials said coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have been climbing dramatically. Average daily cases shot up more than 60% in November.
“We are at a critical moment,” Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, said during a recent briefing. “We cannot let the virus get so far ahead of us or we will never catch up.”
Although older adults are said to be the most vulnerable to serious illness from the coronavirus, state health department data shows most of the California infections are in the 1849 age group, the most likely group to don Santa suits and join the revelry.