SAN FRANCISCO – There was a ho-ho-whole lot of festive fun to be had in San Francisco on Saturday morning as the annual SantaCon bar crawl got underway, though some unusual accessories were being adorned by many participants.
Garcia and his friends gathered at Union Square before 12 p.m., when the crawl was due to kick off. “This is the least amount of people I’ve ever seen, which is probably down to the rain. Usually it’s packed at Union Square but the bars do seem to be full already. Some people say that could cause issues but I’ve never seen any issues through the years.”
“We’ve seen everything from Santa and Mrs. Claus, to elves, Christmas trees and menorahs,” DiBelle added. “One year we had a guy who had the makeup artist from The Grinch movie do him up with prosthetics.” The company has been running a reduced number of trains to facilitate its electrification process in recent weeks, and passengers traveling this weekend will need to take a bus between the areas of Belmont and Mountain View.
“People go off to taverns and pubs and drink until they can’t walk. Over the years it has gone from a mere little party to chaos,” said Dibell. “We have been proudly welcoming and serving SantaCon participants for years. They’re always a fun crowd,” said Fernando Coellar, owner of The Pink Elephant Alibi on Minna St.