Santarchy Madison 2008: The Gathering

The first weekend of December is only days away and as always that date heralds the return of Santarchy in Madison. This year Santarchy moves back to Saturday. There is one final important detail still being fleshed out, but so far the following knowns are...known. Important details that would possibly ruin any joyful unexpected surprises for the general public have been removed, because, as everyone knows Santa's chief weapon is surprise. Following details from Big Tall Santa (pictured to the left).

The first weekend of December is almost upon us - and therefore it's SantaCon time again! Madison's Santa-spectacular will happen Saturday December 6th.

We are in the process of hiring a bus (aka sleigh) for a daytime tour. Details will be sent out by Wednesday as to where the tour will start in the afternoon. We're thinking a 2 p.m. gathering at the Capital rotunda is a good starting place. If you can't start that early in the day, please join up with Santa in the evening.

EVENING:

7:00PM - Paul's Club on State Street. Hook up with other Santa's and do a photo op in the glass staircase of the MMOCA. Santa's will pose on stairs for 10 minutes for passersby to take our picture!

8:00PM - Head to [BLANK] on the Square. At the top of State Street we stop to sing some Xmas carols as we feel inclined.

9:00PM - Stumble over to [BLANK]. Possible [BLANK] on the [BLANK]

10:30PM - Crash the [BLANK].

11:00PM - [BLANK], [BLANK], [BLANK], and then seriously [BLANK]

Please extend this information other Santa's you know - the more Santa's the merrier!

Some of you may be wondering what this is about...this is the 6th annual SantaCon event in Madison, and Santarchy-based events have been happening across the US (& across the world) for the last 15 years. It's an opportunity to dress up like Santa, get together with other Santa's and have fun. Sometimes it's a bar crawl, sometimes it's like a flash mob. Every city's event is different. There's a more in-depth history available at www.santarchy.com if you're interested.. Santa suits are available at several stores around town, or via mail order (see www.santarchy.com/santasuit.html for links). Don't want to buy a Santa Suit? Make your own! Go to St. Vinny's for costume items (or anything red). Or be an elf. Or an Xmas tree. But get into the spirit and come and have fun with us - it's always a very good time.

Other tips: some folks like to have small gifts to hand out when they're dressed as Santa - which can be lumps of charcoal for bad boys & girls, or very cheap toys for those that are good. This part is up to you - thrift stores are great places to find inexpensive tokes that you can give out, and some people just grab stuff at home that they want to get rid of (for example - I once gift wrapped up a can of Ensure and a can of Tuna that had been in my cupboards for years).

The main thing about this event is that it is fun - and anything you can think of (costumes, accessories, gifts, etc.) within that guiding principle is fine with us. There are no restrictions, so be whatever type of Santa (or Elf) you want to be. Looking through the pictures on the santarchy.com website can be good fodder for inspiration.

Ho Ho Oh Oh,

Santa Vogt