HOBOKEN — Saturday, thousands of men and women who were dressed as Santa Claus (as well as some elves) descended on New York City to carouse and hang out in what is known each year as “SantaCon.” Scores of participating Hobokenites were seen that day hopping aboard buses and the PATH trains to head into the city (see photo). But one born-and-raised Hobokenite said that many of the “Santas” messed up our town, and the mayor should do something. The resident also says this sends a bad message to kids.
A local news website reported that over the weekend, two of the “Santas” cut the taxi line at the PATH station and got into a cab with two women. When one of the women argued with a Santa about cutting the line and threw his Santa hat out the window, the Santa allegedly pulled her “head first” out of the cab and tossed her purse over a fence.
So do you think Santacon is a big problem for Hoboken? Read the letter to the editor of the Hoboken Reporter below, and leave comments!
Dear Editor:
Today, Dec. 10th, 2011 is this new “holiday” that is celebrated in NYC, called SantaCon where people dress up as elves, Santa Clause, Mrs. Clause and even reindeer to celebrate the Christmas spirit. It is supposed to be celebrated in NYC, and has now carried over to Hoboken, NJ, where this celebration has turned into people barhopping and ranting as if they are the new Flash Mob.
It is bad enough that us long-time, born-and-raised residents, of Hoboken have to deal with out-of-towners who come from all types of the country to celebrate St. Patrick’s day and ruin this town completely, but now we have to deal with more drunk, reckless people? What does the mayor have to say about this?
Nothing, because there’s money involved, right? Because these non-born-and-raised residents and out-of-towners are spending money in Hoboken, of course. But, if the born-and-raised residents were to celebrate anything that involved a crowd of people who walk around “wasted,” we’re the first people to be called on and arrested.
What about the children? Children in primary schools who still believe in Santa walk around Hoboken with their parents, they walk all over Washington Street, and when they see all of these people walking around half-a***ed drunk and acting like ignorant fools dressed up as Santa, elves, etc will ask questions to their parents about this day and what is going on? What do you answer to that? A website, www.nycsantacon.com, describes SantaCon as a “non-denominational, non-commercial, non-political and non-sensical Santa Claus convention that occurs once a year for absolutely no reason.” What follows is more of a description about the how-to’s and foolish ways to get donations that are supposed to go Toys For Tots, and a video that starts off with Santa drinking a carton of milk as if he is getting wasted off of it with some clips of an elf, and a woman dressed up as a Christmas tree showing “the finger.” After I saw the woman dressed up as a tree giving the finger, I stopped watching because I became furious that people can turn Christmas, one of the most family-oriented holidays celebrated, into a damn disgrace. Unfortunately, here in Hoboken, SantaCon has absolutely nothing to do with these descriptions.
Pictures on Facebook have shown these “yuppies” walking around Hudson Street, near The Spa, gallivanting, dressed up as elves, and walking in and out of bars. Is this really another St. Patrick’s day? So far it is becoming another one. SantaCon has never been “celebrated” in Hoboken, and with this being the first year, it is causing an outrage from the born-and-raised residents because the ones who have to clean up the mess are the BORN-and-RAISED RESIDENTS…