Alcohol banned on LIRR during weekend SantaCon revelry
People dance and take photos at the start of Santa Con near Times Square on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021, in New York. Credit: AP/Brittainy Newman
Beware of boozy Santas on Saturday headed for the annual SantaCon bar crawl in Manhattan this weekend, when alcohol will be banned for 32 hours on LIRR trains.
The MTA announced Wednesday that drinking alcohol will be prohibited from 4 a.m. Saturday through noon Sunday to deter intoxicated Santas commuting on the LIRR and the Metro-North Railroad.
“Maintaining safe and orderly travel is always a priority,” MTA Police Chief John Mueller said in a statement. “We want everyone to enjoy their holiday festivities and get to their destination smoothly and on time.”
The SantaCon festivities attract dozens of Santas from Long Island and elsewhere, who plan to meet in midtown at 10 a.m. Saturday dressed in full Santa costumes to start drinking.
Organizers said the bar crawl also raises money for charity and has raised $900,000 during the past decade for charitable causes. They encourage participants to respect the community and there are NYPD officers at every stop, after prior years in which the revelry sometimes led to poor behavior and public drunkenness by the multiple Clauses.
MTA police will also increase patrols in Penn Station and Grand Central Station to enforce the weekend alcohol ban on trains and platforms. Police will issue citations and confiscate alcohol and remove any drunken or disorderly passengers, officials said.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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