Metro-North bans booze for SantaCon this weekend
Metro-North will have a 24-hour booze ban on its trains during the SantaCon in New York City this weekend.
The annual event combines a costume parade and a drinking-drenched pub crawl that has sometimes resulted in raucous incidents involving way too merry Santas.
The ban is in effect from noon Saturday to noon on Sunday.
Alcohol will not be permitted on Metro-North trains and stations to maintain safe and orderly travel during this weekend's SantaCon event, Metro-North said.
MTA police officers will be on duty at Grand Central Terminal and stations throughout Metro-North territory as well as on trains to enforce the 24- hour restriction.
MTA police will confiscate alcoholic beverages and issue summonses carrying fines or imprisonment, they said.
Violators may also be subject to removal from the train or station by police.
SantaCon day, held annually in early December, is one of three times a year the MTA bans alcohol. The other times are New Year’s Eve and St. Patrick’s Day.
The first SantaCon was held in San Francisco in 1994 as a protest against the rampant consumerism that has become associated with Christmas. It has since spread to hundreds of cities, including Stamford, which held its SantaCon last week