Riley Peru, Staff Writer
The weekend of December 2nd, the streets of Binghamton, New York were filled with college students dressed in ugly Christmas sweaters and Santa hats. For miles and miles on end, crowds formed and people were getting together to celebrate the holiday season in a way any college student could. Santa-con was in full swing in Binghamton.
Santa-con happens every year around the final weeks of the semester. Santa-con is a bar crawl where people dress up as Santa Claus or in any way relating to the holiday. It happens nationwide, but for our local area, Binghamton hosts the biggest Santa-con around. All it took was a short hour bus ride courtesy of Trailways and we were in downtown Binghamton. I was lucky enough to stay with my roommate’s family friend, a member of the SUNY Binghamton swim team (Thank you, Skylar). We spent the night before the festivities decorating and creating a game plan for the following day. Excited would be an understatement. My friends and I came to Binghamton with no expectations and no idea as to how big this event truly would be.
We woke up bright and early the following morning got breakfast, and got ready for the day. We all started getting ready for the day, ugly Christmas sweaters, Santa hats, vibrant and extravagant light necklaces, and bright makeup were our attire for the day. Eventually, more and more people came over, games were played, and music was being blasted throughout the house. Once noon hit, we were set to go to the first party.
Once we arrived there had to be at least four hundred people crammed into the backyard of this house off one of the main roads. Police lined the streets making sure no one was hurt and keeping the streets clear. Some of the bigger gatherings were shut down due to noise complaints, but that didn’t stop the festivities from continuing throughout the day. For hours and hours on end, people flooded the streets traveling in their Christmas (even Hanukah) attire.
Once it hit around five p.m. the town died down a tiny bit, but not a noticeable amount to make a difference. The parties continued until eventually, the police shut them all down, which was expected with the large crowds present. Then the lines started forming around the block for the local bars and pubs. For our of-age friends, it took them a solid hour and a half to two hours to get into bars that normally aren’t as crowded. Some bars had to shut down early due to being understaffed and not being able to keep up with the crowd. Stores and local restaurants knew what the day was and even had special deals for the event. The wait time for food reached insane levels as well, someone stole our Taco Bell order from our porch. In the end, it was an enjoyable night that I got to spend with my friends.
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