On December 1st, the Mayor’s office issued a joint press release with Police Chief Ferrante that the annual pubcrawl event, SantaCon Hoboken, has been officially canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the City of Hoboken has no jurisdiction over the private event, it’s been noted on the event’s page that it has been canceled by the founders.
The press release stated, “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,” it continued.
Patrons will still be allowed to visit bars, but Hoboken bars have not promoted the event, staying in line with the City’s statement. Administrators for a Facebook page called Hoboken SantaCon, which says it is “the official” Ho-Ho-Hoboken SantaCon event page, said in a post this weekend that the Hoboken Santacon 2020 wouldn’t be taking place.
Chief Ferrante also told NJ.com, “If bars try to take part in a SantaCon during this huge second wave of coronavirus that we’re having, if there are violations that day, they’re going to pay the price for it. They’re going to get hit with sanctions.”
This just in after Governor Murphy announced restaurants and bars to close indoor-dining at 10PM several weeks ago to minimize the chances of spreading the virus, and the re-limiting of outdoor gatherings to 25 people starting December 7th. The only exceptions are religious or political activities, funerals, memorial services, and wedding ceremonies.
