Believe it or not, at least one "Hoboken Santacon" online promoter is still shilling December 19th's Santa-Superspreader even after both the Mayor and Police Chief announced it's been canceled.
Yep, yesterday they made it official. In a joint statment, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and Hoboken Police Chief Ken Ferrante rolled out the "Unwelcome Mat" for incoming Santas and Elves:
STATEMENT FROM MAYOR BHALLA AND CHIEF FERRANTE ON SANTACON CANCELLATION
Today, Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla and Hoboken Police Chief Ken Ferrante confirmed that the annual “Santacon” event was officially cancelled in the City of Hoboken, due to safety precautions and regulations related to the COVID-19 health crisis.
“Our sole goal as Mayor and Police Chief is to keep Hoboken residents safe, and an unsanctioned, crowded bar crawl would have presented substantial challenges related to the pandemic," said Mayor Bhalla and Chief Ferrante. "We are glad to share that Santacon has officially been canceled by the event organizers, which will help protect Hoboken residents from a potential super-spreader type event. Thank you to the many bars and restaurants who from the very beginning, refused to participate in Santacon, as these events continue to lose steam.”
Santacon, along with other “con” events have never been approved or sanctioned by the City of Hoboken.
The “LepreCon” event that took place in early March had an all-time low of only four bars participating.
As of today, one SantaCon promoter has deferred to the City's ban. At least one other has not. But the word is out to the entire tri-state area on broadcast radio, cable and network television media and in print.
Will Hoboken's Unwelcome Mat deter the most party-hardy, dumber than rocks Elves and Santas from coming to town on December 19? Probably not.
So it remains to be seen how the City will enforce its kibosh. Is the ban enforceable? Does it need more legal teeth?
In my opinion, community service is the best penalty for any SantaCon invaders. I'd like to see chain gangs of Elves sweeping our streets or placing Santas as bollards in no-parking zones. The death penalty may be too harsh, but certainly kibosh-breaking invaders deserve more than a fine. In my opinion.
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