It may be 3,000 miles from the North Pole, but the SantaCON celebration continues to bring holiday red hats and faces to the Spa City more than a decade in.
The bar crawl aims to keep the Spa City’s winter weekend attractions rolling while drawing crowds to raise funds for the Franklin Community Center, which runs a handful of services, like a free store, food pantry, and free after school programming.
Before the heart of Saratoga Springs’ downtown scene was flooded with Kris Kringles, elves, and reindeer, Brian Miller says the yearly event brings in a diverse crowd.
“All walks of life. You got people that are coming from all over the Northeast. I got people from Utica, people from Connecticut, people from New Hampshire. We got people that do this as a fun retirement thing. We’ve got people that are 25, we’ve got people that are 21. Like, anybody and everybody comes for it,” explained Miller.
Miller emphasized that 100 percent of the profits from ticket sales go to charity – a far cry from the concerns raised over New York City’s SantaCON, which has reportedly donated less than a fifth of its revenue to nonprofits since 2014.
“It’s thriving after COVID. The sheer ticket sales, and all the benchmarks were up double. We’re expecting the largest SantaCON ever, and looking around town earlier I think everyone’s already eaten brunch and all kind of gearing up,” said Miller.
“I love having all the amazing people come in. The costumes, the festivities, all of that,” said McGarrahan.
Mary Beth McGarrahan is the Development Director at the Franklin Community Center and set up at Harvey’s, well stocked and stockinged for the afternoon.
“Mostly, it’s a beautiful day. I mean, you get to walk around downtown Saratoga Springs. What an amazing city, and anything that brings tourists in, brings locals in and we all get to have fun – it’s a win for everybody,” said McGarrahan.
McGarrahan says the funds raised by SantaCON are crucial to their holiday season operation. One funding priority is the community center’s food pantry, which feeds more than 1,100 residents every month and serves between 20 and 30 families daily.
McGarrahan also loves all the costumes the day delivers but there are some costumes she has yet to see – Cornelius the reindeer and the Abominable snowman remain at the top of her wish list.
“The Grinch are always great. Someone just walked in wearing a Christmas tree outfit, I mean how awesome is that? But, mostly, I love reading the sweaters, I love the ugly sweaters that come through. I love being able to see it. And I love how proud everybody is to be wearing their stuff. Because you know we’re kind of buttoned down Monday through Friday, so this is a day where you can wear a hat, you can paint your face, whatever. It’s kinda like going to the football game but even better,” said McGarrahan.
Cousins Wyatt and Jack Leto are in line to enter Tap and Barrell, ready to bring the gingerbread house down.
“I mean, it’s great to come out, I just got home from Tampa about like two days ago so it’s good to come back and see all your hometown boys,” said Wyatt Leto.
“Oh I’m here from Albany, I’m a little horny right now but looking for some little elves to bring back to my workshop,” said Jack Leto.
“A Mrs. Claus, perhaps?”
“No, no, I have a Mrs. Claus at home. I have a Mrs. Claus at home, but I’m looking for elves, for workers, okay, that’s it,” explained Leto.
It’s Will Critcher’s first SantaCON, and he has pulled out all the stops and is wearing one of the more impressively detailed Santa costumes on the street.
“I live right up on Franklin Street, and I was honked at more times on one block than I was my entire life. And, so I now know what it’s like to be an incredibly attractive chick. I mean, and the day’s just getting started,” said Critcher.
Unlike some on Caroline Street, Claire Burnham made sure she was on Santa’s nice list by buying her ticket.
“We’ve been coming for a few years in a row now, and it’s really fun, but also why not just give back to the community, it’s not that much,” said Burnham.
Nick Zuba stands out from the crowd, wearing a blue and gold ugly Hannukah sweater, fitted with a menorah and Hanukkah Llama to boot.
“I saw it in the store and I thought maybe there needs to be a little, you know, insight brought to it, sure. Not many people wear Hanukkah themed stuff on a ugly—they think ugly Christmas sweater, I like a ugly Hanukkah sweater, why not,” asked Zuba.
The event raised more than $17,000 for the Franklin Community Center.
