Every year I’m caught off guard. Right after work, on a Saturday in December when more often than not the weather seems seasonal and unChristmasy I catch glimpses of people dressed in Santa outfits. Then it dawns on me: It’s the first Saturday in December, the day of the SantaCon Pub Crawl which has these Santa look-a-likes straggling, wandering, stumbling, and marching all over North Portland. Numerous Claus clones gathered outside the Nite Hawk Cafe and Lounge. As I rode by I was caught unprepared with a dead camera phone battery so I couldn’t take a photo. I’ve always enjoyed what to me ends up being a random gathering of St. Nicks including grunge Santas, pimp hat wearing Santas–yes red velvet, Santas with beards askew and all kinds of lady Santas–innumerable variations on the theme. I quick charged my phone when I got home and hit Denver Ave in Kenton only to find the street devoid of the Claus crowd.  I missed them. 

Years ago I had enjoyed a Santa street party with crazed chants and Santas dragging around blasting boom boxes. At the time I had my video camera. The Santas assembled and marched up to then Mayor Sam Adam’s porch. The Mayor mixed and mingled with this Claus conglomerate.  It felt historic, a little levity in the life of our embattled Mayor. It seemed important enough to pitch to one of our local news affiliates. I wasn’t smart enough to start a bidding war. No promises were made when I dropped off a DVD of the footage but I was convinced images of the Mayor almost crowd surfing in a sea of Santas had the makings of a short blurb that was can’t miss TV or even not quite breaking news. I watched the next morning’s broadcast to no avail. I told a friend about it later who said the local news was a bit too vanilla for something out of the ordinary.

The Santa Con remains my number one Portland Christmas event. It’s not the singing Christmas tree, a trip to the Grotto, the Cinnamon Bear Cruise or the tree lighting; it’s catching sight of a trashy troop of sad, bad Santas on a pub crawl through North Portland that lifts my holiday spirits every year. Thanks again!

So was it newsworthy? Decide for yourself:

For more coverage of this year’s SantaCon see:

http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/12/north_portland_santas_put_a_gi.html

I don’t know what was stranger, seeing a tote full of plastic, doll baby arms in the back of a pick up truck or realizing that they were sitting out in the open for anyone to make a mad grab and dash off with them. I guess there’s security in knowing that there are few plastic, doll baby arm thieves in the world and it might be a rare occurrence to park on a street where such a person who fits that description might happen by.

A close up of the plastic, doll baby arms: