Wee Mike Oz had the rosiest cheeks and a smile on his face when Mommy took him to see Santa way back in 1983 (ish). He probably asked for a Power Wheel. Or some G.I. Joe’s. Or whatever else pre-schoolers wanted back then.
When grown-man Mike Oz found this picture last year, he had to wonder what Mom was thinking. This guy passed for Santa?!? And someone let me sit on his lap?!? Maybe it was the times. Maybe all Santas looked drunk and downtrodden in the early 80s.
This weekend’s Santacon (Saturday night in the Tower District) got me to thinking about horrible Santas. More than likely — at a pub crawl where participants dress in Santa costumes — you’re going to see some things that wouldn’t fly in the mall. You might see Santa making out with some ho-ho-hos, barfing in the bushes or dancing to LMFAO songs.
So here’s the question: Has anybody encountered a worst Santa than this guy? If you have a pic, great, post a link. If not, use your words and make us all feel the disgust oozing off the page.
1. GET YOUR HANDS ON SOME LOCAL GOODS
Since the Fresno Handmade Bazaar was such a success earlier this year, organizers The Soulflower Group have crafted a seasonal sequel — Saturday’s Fresno Handmade Holiday Bazaar. You can buy gifts — for you or your fam — handmade by Fresno’s indie artisans. This ain’t your grandma’s craft fair, though. It’s in a club with a DJ and drinks. Keep in mind that it’s only open to the 21+. [More]
1. START A NEW CHRISTMAS TRADITION
This weekend brings us a couple of new holiday-themed events that are a little different than the usual Christmas fare. It’s something I wrote about in my Bee column today. There’s the inaugural SantaCon Fresno happening Saturday with people dressed as Santas bar-hopping around the Tower District. Then there’s Fresno’s first-ever festival celebrating the “Seinfeld”-created holiday, Festivus, which is happening tonight at Fulton 55. It’s organized by the Dirty Dowdy Podcast and features local bands and comics as well as many of the Festivus traditions as outlined on “Seinfeld” — the Festivus pole, Airing of Grievances and so forth.
About six weeks ago, a reader e-mailed me wondering what Fresno had to do to get a SantaCon going. We’ve learned the answer: Let a radio station lead the charge.
New Rock 104.1 is organizing Fresno’s inaugural SantaCon on Dec. 3.
What’s SantaCon, you ask? That was my first reaction too. This explains it:
Unless explicitly stated you must assume that every SantaCon event is for adults – where guys & girls of legal age dress up like Santa and go cavorting around town for no better reason than that it’s huge fun.
That having been said, some SantaCons are family friendly, some cater to children, some raise money for good causes and some will even let you bring your dog (dressed as Santa of course)!
In Fresno, our SantaCon is taking shape as a Tower District bar crawl. And if you’ve made it this far and your interest is piqued — better start hunting for a Santa costume.
