Santacon is Coming to Town!
Don a red suit & join the madness
By John Benson
You better not cry, you better not pout… blah, blah, blah, Santacon is coming to town. And what is Santacon you ask? Well, it’s nothing short of a santa-rific celebration where youthful folks convene dressed as old St. Nick and other Yuletide characters drinking spirits, enjoying each other’s company and having a jolly old good time.
For nearly two decades such holiday festivities have taken place all over the country except for Cleveland, which is why local creative director by day and event company honcho (The YoyoSyndicate) Aaron Erb brought the fun to Northeast Ohio last year. The 2nd annual Santacon begins at 6:30PM Sat 12/17 at Bier Market/Bar Cento in Ohio City.
However, before you start shotgunning beers and drinking shots out of Mrs. Claus’ bellybutton, be aware there are more rules involved in Santacon than when joining a fight club. For instance: Rule 1 – be jolly; Rule 2 – get more Santas; Rule 3 – holiday apparel is mandatory; Rule 4 – Santa doesn’t whine; and Rule 5 – don’t be that Santa.
Cool Cleveland talked to the gregarious Erb (who is also one of the people responsible for the Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art Show events at the Beachland) about his unique event, the musical fun and Rule 5.
Cool Cleveland: Why did you bring Santacon to Cleveland? Don’t you know how busy we already are during the holidays?
Aaron Erb: It’s not that we’re not doing enough, it’s just there’s a lot of stuff going on in Cleveland and some of it’s some of our own creation. There are great ideas, but there are little things out there that I think other cities are having fun with that either someone hasn’t found yet or no one has taken the time to organize it.
So what exactly is Santacon?
It’s a reason to get out and meet people. Is there anything else behind it other than dressing up and having fun and drinking a beer? Not really. It’s one of those things that if you look into it, it’s happening all over the world. There were 200-some cities doing it and nobody was doing it in Cleveland. We’re starting at Bar Cento and we’ll move around. We’ll go to XYZ, Garage Bar and other places. It’s a bar crawl of sorts. We’ll have 100 plus people dressed as Santa, a reindeer or an elf. Anything holiday. Last year we had ZZ Top-inspired Santas, the whole mix. It’s a whole mix of people, just whoever wants to come out and have a good time and check out the scene.
Is there any Yuletide music?
We have someone who has an accordion and we play music and we sing naughty Christmas songs, like off-takes of traditional Christmas songs.
You mean something like “Deck My Balls?”
Yes, yes.
Wow, to be honest you answered that question pretty fast. Um, is there a song called “Deck My Balls?”
There might be; I’d have to look at the list from last year.
I guess “Jingle Balls” could be another.
Yes, it’s a bunch of songs like that. We just kind of go up to tables and carol and sing songs and pass out candy canes.
Finally, what are these five rules for Santacon, especially Rule 5? You’re not the boss of me.
We want people to come out and have fun, and having fun is not getting plastered and acting like an idiot. It’s just coming out and meeting people and going to the local bars and just spreading holiday cheer. We don’t want this to turn into Santas fighting in the street. This is just being proactive.
For more information, visit http://TheYoYoSyndicate.com/santacon.
Freelance writer John Benson spends most of his time writing for various papers throughout Northeast Ohio.
When he’s not writing about music or entertainment, he can be found coaching his two boys in basketball, football and baseball or watching movies with his lovely wife, Maria. John also occasionally writes for CoolCleveland.com.