VIRGINIA BEACH — The 8th Annual Oceanfront Christmas Crawl, otherwise known as “SantaCon”, is hitting the Virginia Beach strip Saturday.
The event will begin at 1 p.m. at “The Shack” and will include stops at Chix, Calypso, Ocean’s 14, The Bunker, Peabody’s, and Lunasea — all of which will have drink specials. The bar crawl will have no set schedule for the stops, according to the group’s event page.
The Noblemen will have a toy drive at The Shack and ask that participants bring a new unwrapped toy for children in need.
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The bar crawl event is open to anyone who is 21 or older. However, you have to dress up like Santa, and follow a few guidelines set forth by the group on their Facebook event:
- Not all these guidelines should be taken seriously. Some of these guidelines should be taken very seriously. If you can’t work out which ones they are, then you are not intelligent enough to take part in SantaCon.
- A Santa hat alone is not enough. You don’t have to dress exactly like Santa but the theme is red. That having been said, unusual interpretations of Santa-ness are often appreciated and Christmas trees, elves, reindeer themes etc. are all good.
- Address your fellow Santa as “Santa.”
- Don’t get drunk in public. Being drunk in public and/or disorderly will tarnish Santa’s reputation. One bad Santa can ruin things for an entire location because we’re all dressed the same.
- Also, it’s an offense and will get you arrested.
- Remember that there is no “bail fund” for incarcerated Santas and if you cross the line you’ll be on your own. Don’t be that Santa.
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- If you do get drunk in public, you should get into a fight with other Santas, get arrested as quickly as possible — before anyone gets hurt — be carted away in handcuffs, and have the whole thing recorded on video for the evening news and Youtube.
- Santa does not make children cry. Does this really need to be said? Seriously, if you see kids, don’t do anything to freak them out. Give them a nice smile and possibly a gift of some kind.
- Santa does not mess with security. This includes the police. Security staff are there to ensure everyone’s safety – it’s an important & necessary job. Most venues welcome Santa but some security staff will see you as a potentially dangerous mob wearing disguises (which, let’s face it, is probably true). If you are turned away, don’t argue or make a fuss – just move on to somewhere Santa is more welcome and can have fun.
- Santa doesn’t drink and drive. If you’re going to drink you must make sure that you can get safely home without driving yourself. Check public transport, carpool with a designated sober driver, or make arrangements to sleep over at someone’s place.
