‘Trying to save your life.’ SantaCon head begs fans to skip San Francisco pub crawl
SantaCon, a chaotic annual pub crawl in San Francisco that draws thousands of revelers in Santa Claus gear, has been off the books for 2020 since July over coronavirus concerns.
But organizer Tom DiBell continues to plead with SantaCon participants not to show up for the event, which had originally been set for Saturday, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“I’m desperately trying to get everybody to understand that I’m trying to save your life and the life of your friends, of your mother, of your father,” DiBell said, according to the publication.
Not everyone’s listening.
“There’s still people that say, ‘This is an anarchist event and we’re gonna do what we want,’ regardless of me telling them it’s a bad idea,” DiBell said, the Chronicle reported.
An online SantaCon site that normally helps promote events around the globe also has removed its calendar to encourage people to forgo the event in 2020.
“We are not currently promoting events as part of Santa’s effort to discourage large in-person gatherings,” a note on the site reads. “Please stay home & stay safe!”
SantaCon started in San Francisco in 1994, inspired by a Danish anti-consumerism performance art protest from the 1970s, Vox reported.
It expanded to Portland, Oregon, in 1996 and is now held annually in cities around the world, with one of the largest events taking place in New York City, according to the publication.
Some SantaCons feature toy drives and other charitable endeavors, but others have become somewhat infamous as chaotic citywide drinking fests, Vox reported.
The event now spans 397 cities in 52 countries, the San Francisco Examiner reported.
In 2019, thousands of Santas filled San Francisco streets for the pub crawl, despite heavy rain and a lack of city permits, according to the publication.
This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 12:38 PM with the headline "‘Trying to save your life.’ SantaCon head begs fans to skip San Francisco pub crawl."