- Reaction score
- 1,703
Saturday was a pretty average day -- if a little cold -- until the chanting started. Listening through an open window in my North Beach apartment, I couldn't quite make out the words. So I headed toward Washington Square Park to see what all the commotion was about, and everything became clear.
They were chanting "Ho, ho, ho! Ho, ho, ho!" and by they, I mean about 200 people dressed in some version, and in many cases a perverse version, of Santa Claus. They were also playing dodge ball, climbing trees, pounding beers, and generally inciting chaos. The defenseless Benjamin Franklin Memorial quickly became a victim of that chaos when somebody wrote "HO" in white spray paint on the base (see above photo), then climbed the monument and santafied it.
The Santa invasion is formally called Santacon, and it started in this very city back in 1994, then quickly spread to dozens of cities including London, Tokyo, and even McMudon Station, Antarctica. The event had been called anything from Red Menace to Santapalooza, and ranges from extremely nice, involving mostly Christmas Caroling, to extremely naughty, San Francisco-style.
www.sfweekly.com
They were chanting "Ho, ho, ho! Ho, ho, ho!" and by they, I mean about 200 people dressed in some version, and in many cases a perverse version, of Santa Claus. They were also playing dodge ball, climbing trees, pounding beers, and generally inciting chaos. The defenseless Benjamin Franklin Memorial quickly became a victim of that chaos when somebody wrote "HO" in white spray paint on the base (see above photo), then climbed the monument and santafied it.
The Santa invasion is formally called Santacon, and it started in this very city back in 1994, then quickly spread to dozens of cities including London, Tokyo, and even McMudon Station, Antarctica. The event had been called anything from Red Menace to Santapalooza, and ranges from extremely nice, involving mostly Christmas Caroling, to extremely naughty, San Francisco-style.
San Francisco Overrun With Drunken, Smoking, Half-Naked Santas Again
Words and Photos By Ashley Harrell (Click here for a full Santacon 2008 slideshow.) Saturday was a pretty average day — if a little cold…
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