Every year, thousands of people in Santa suits flood cities across the U.S. to drink and cause havoc. SantaCon, which started as anti-commercial performance art, is now the subject of a documentary.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
If you see hundreds of people dressed up as Santa next month all in one place, there’s a good chance you’re in the middle of SantaCon. It’s an event that happens across the country and even a few places around the world. It’s associated with bar crawls now. But Hannah Frishberg from member station WNYC reports on a new documentary about the event’s counterculture early days when it was known as Santarchy.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, “SANTACON”)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD #1: (Chanting) Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
HANNAH FRISHBERG, BYLINE: It’s 1995, San Francisco, and a group of pranksters called the Cacophony Society are putting on what would become SantaCon. This is tape from a new documentary called “SantaCon.”
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, “SANTACON”)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Up the stairs (ph). We’re going to march through the Emporium and into Macy’s department store.
FRISHBERG: The society was dedicated to creating alternative events. It accidentally founded what would become Burning Man in 1986. Here’s SantaCon founder Rob Schmitt talking with Chris Hackett, organizer of the first New York SantaCon.
ROB SCHMITT: I saw a postcard in my friend’s bedroom while making costumes of Santas playing pool.
CHRIS HACKETT: If you saw a postcard of the dogs playing pool, this would’ve been a very different event.
SCHMITT: Yeah.
FRISHBERG: You think you would’ve been dogs?
SCHMITT: (Laughter) Yeah.
FRISHBERG: DogaCon (ph) wouldn’t have hit the same.
The first event involved about a hundred Santas who roved San Francisco, storming a Hyatt Regency hotel, a Macy’s and a Planet Hollywood, where they danced with grandmothers, stole drinks and inspired giddy shock with their chaos. No one had ever seen so many Santas in one place.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, “SANTACON”)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Who are those guys?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Santa Claus.
FRISHBERG: Director Seth Porges got the idea for the documentary back in 2021, when he learned a friend was not just an early SantaCon participant but had a lot of old camcorder footage of it.
SETH PORGES: And when I saw the footage, I just knew I have to make a movie out of this.
FRISHBERG: Porges’ documentary mostly focuses on the early years before Schmitt’s creation became mostly a day drinking event.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, “SANTACON”)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD #2: (Chanting) Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Santa needs some blow. Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Santa needs some blow.
FRISHBERG: In those days, the event was about going against the grain and making people think and also having fun, as SantaCon organizer Chris Hackett puts it.
HACKETT: It was kind of like, let’s mess with people. Let’s really subvert whatever people might think about Santa.
FRISHBERG: Today, Hackett says even though the event has changed, he still sees SantaCon as one of the only ways to have a big, weird time together.
HACKETT: It just keeps coming back to people are hungry for experience, right? They want to take over the street. They want to do the thing. They want to matter in some way. SantaCon, sadly, seems to be the only thing that’s giving them that opportunity.
FRISHBERG: The documentary “SantaCon” has not yet been picked up for distribution but is available at DOC NYC through the end of the month.
For NPR News, I’m Hannah Frishberg in New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HEY SANTA CLAUS”)
THE MOONGLOWS: (Singing) Hey, Santa Claus. Hey, Santa Claus, Santa Claus, Santa Claus. Hey, Santa Claus. Hey, Santa Claus. Hey, Santa Claus, Santa Claus, Santa Claus. Well, Santa Claus, bring my baby back.
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