Are you ready for Lowertown SantaCon IV on Dec 17th, 2011?

THE FOURTH ANNUAL LOWERTOWN SANTACON: SATURDAY DECEMBER 17TH, 2011

For the fourth year running, the Capital City of St. Paul, Minnesota is hosting a SantaCon event in the historic district of Lowertown! On December 17th, will you be ready for Lowertown SantaCon?

Lowertown SantaCon was voted “Best Twin Cities Pub Crawl” 2011 according to City Pages, has been City Pages A-Listed, Pioneer Press Best of the Week-ed, and shouted out by DJ Mark Wheat from The Current. We are a media-accredited extravaganza of the human holiday spirit!

What more of a recommendation could you possibly require before grabbing your iDevice (or paper equivalent) and bookmarking, sharing, tweeting (or writing down) and letting the world know that you are choosing Lowertown SantaCon on December 17th, 2011, as one of your epic Christmas nights to remember!

RSVP ON FACEBOOK/SHARE OUR EVENT PAGE

Your Hosts & Roving Band: The Brass Messengers

Our hosts and musical escort are The Brass Messengers, a full brass band of merry gentlemen, who both will accompany our costumed holiday convoy through the pubs and bar-restaurants of the Historic District of Lowertown, Saint Paul.

About Lowertown SantaCon

Lowertown SantaCon is half spectacle, half pub crawl. SantaCon (aka “Santarchy” aka “The Red Menace”) is an annual worldwide Santa Claus convention occurring in cities around the globe. People dress as Santa, other associated characters, and variations on the theme—and embark on an epic pub crawl around their city.

Lowertown SantaCon began in 2008, where it grew from a merry bunch of 25 revelers to a respectable 200+ Santas, elves, reindeers and—for the first time in 2010—Krampus, the no longer mythical, living half-beast Christmas Devil from the Alpine Wastelands.

As before, we will be stopping at the Black Dog Cafe at 7:30pm for the All Ages part of the night, where children can meet Krampus (and possibly be carried off by him in a basket to be eaten for Christmas Dinner if they were particularly naughty during the year).

Video: Krampus meets the kids at Lowertown SantaCon 2010

This December 17th, don your finest holiday garb for Drink Specials All Night Long at amazing Lowertown, Saint Paul’s restaurants & pubs. Starts at 6pm. Come as Santa, come as an elf, reindeer or grudgingly join us as a grinch. Or get creative and come as a Santasaurus, the SantaChrist, a Hanukkah Chicken, a Kwanzaa Ham…you get the picture.

We’ll be taking photographs and shooting video on December 17th to stick on our elf-maintained website, so go all out with the knowledge that your evening will be remembered for years to come in Google’s cache and beyond.

Participating Stations on the SantaCon Express

6:00 PM – Heartland
6:45 PM – Kelly’s Depot Bar
7:30 PM – Black Dog Coffee & Wine Bar (All ages! Bring the kids to meet Krampus and hear the Brass Messengers!)
8:30 PM – Mears Park, Barrio & Bulldog
10:00 PM – Senor Wong with DJ Del 6.
Looking to come a little late but not sure where the party’s at? You can check in with @santacon55101 on Twitter or text “follow santacon55101″ to 40404.

Lowertown SantaCon in the Press

CITY PAGES “BEST TWIN CITIES PUB CRAWL” 2011
If there’s any surefire trick to making a successful pub crawl, it’s getting dressed up in ridiculous costumes. And what better time for a crawl than right before Christmas? That spirit-crushing phenomenon known as winter in Minnesota is just settling in, and drinking for the next four to six months will be confined to indoors. Might as well get it out of your system beforehand. St. Paul’s Santacon Crawl has the predictable array of jolly, beer-guzzling Kris Kringles, but also a slew of surly elves, drunken reindeer, and even the odd Jäger-slamming Baphomet. Last year’s show was presided over by Foxy Tann, with live music by the Brass Messengers, as the costumed crowd trekked to such popular Lowertown watering holes as Barrio and the Bulldog. The payoff? Meeting up with the Minnesota RollerGirls at Senor Wong. Now there’s some holiday spirit!

CITY PAGES “A-LIST” REVIEW 2010

Now in its third year, the Lowertown SantaCon is your chance to party it up holiday-style, without the awkward moments of a holiday office party or family gathering. And while Santa’s big belly and rosy cheeks can probably be attributed to a hard life running an elf-driven sweatshop in a land of frozen tundra, the guy probably knows how to party too. If you can pull off the Kris Kringle look, you certainly should, but if you can’t don’t fret: Just pop on some fake reindeer antlers, come as a kinky leather elf, or simply dress in your ugliest holiday sweater and jingling accessories. The key is to come in costume for the drink specials. The barhop begins at the Hat Trick Lounge, then stumbles along to Trattoria da Vinci, Barrio, Bulldog, Black Dog, Station 4, and, finally, Senor Wong. The Brass Messengers will be serenading sugarplum drunks along the way, while Foxy Tann plays MC. Looking to come a little late but not sure where the party’s at? You can check in with @santacon55101 on Twitter or text “follow santacon55101″ to 40404.

CITY PAGES “A-LIST” REVIEW 2009

This will be the second year for the Santa-themed barhop in Lowertown, St. Paul. And while milk and cookies add to that big Santa belly, it’s the nightcaps that help make his cheeks rosy and his laugh grand. So throw on that Santa costume (and perhaps some long underwear as well if it’s a chilly night) and hit the streets with like-minded Kris Kringles. Though the event is named after the jolliest man of them all, partiers can also come as elves, reindeer, Hanukkah items, or other holiday-themed characters. The more creative the costume, the better (zombie reindeer or space-age dreidels from the future, anyone?). The barhop begins at 5 p.m. at Señor Wong, but moves to a new location approximately every hour on the hour, with street music provided by Brass Messengers. Participating locations include the Black Dog Café, the Bulldog, Barrio, Rumors and Innuendo, and Station 4, where the Prize Fighters are scheduled to perform and Minnesota Rollergirl fans will also be partying. Drink specials will be offered throughout the night to those in costume making spirits bright, and food donations to Second Harvest Heartland will be accepted at designated bars and clubs along the way.

PIONEER PRESS “BEST OF THE WEEK” REVIEW 2009

Don’t be fooled by the name, SantaCon is not for the tots. It’s an international pub crawl where folks dress up in Santa suits (or another holiday-ish costume of their choice) and go drinking. For the second year in a row, the local SantaCon will take place in St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood. Starting at 5 p.m., Santas, along with all their helpers, will gather at Senor Wong and throughout the night visit the Black Dog Café, Bulldog, Barrio and Innuendo before finally ending up at Station 4, where there will be live music and RollerGirls on hand. So whether you choose to be Old St. Nick, Rudolph or Mrs. Claus, everyone wearing a costume qualifies for drink discounts.