HELL'S KITCHEN — Hordes of drunk Santas are heading to Midtown, Flatiron, Murray Hill and the East Village this weekend, organizers of the annual SantaCon pub crawl announced.
More than 30 bars and clubs, mostly in Midtown, will welcome costumed revelers on Saturday starting at 10 a.m., according to the official SantaCon app, which SantaCon linked to on social media Thursday night.
The event typically keeps its route secret until the night beforehand, but organizers announced Thursday that they would reveal the information a day early and scale back the event in response to a major Eric Garner protest in Washington Square Park that is also scheduled for Saturday.
“SantaCon has respect and compassion for the hard-working municipal organizations of NYC, as well as for the important civil rights demonstrations currently shaping our city’s future,” organizers said in a statement.
“Please patronize these venues only. If a venue isn’t on the list, it’s because they don’t want you there."
After logging in through the official SantaCon app —which is available for both iPhone and Android phones for about $1 — participants can see a map of all participating locations, post messages on the map and send tweets, according to the website.
The app also includes information about SantaCon events around the world, the event's rules and parodies of traditional Christmas carols. Proceeds from app sales will go to Toys for Tots and other charities, according the SantaCon app website.
The event has faced backlash from neighborhoods across the city. Earlier this week, Community Board 4, which covers Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea, told SantaCon representatives that it did not want the bar crawl in the area.
Bushwick residents, business owners and elected officials also spoke out against SantaCon last month when organizers applied to use Maria Hernandez Park as a kickoff space. The city denied the request, saying that the park did not have the capacity to hold the tens of thousands of revelers SantaCon expected to draw.
Neighborhood groups also blasted SantaCon on the Lower East Side.
To combat their negative image, SantaCon organizers have been spending the past week discouraging binge drinking and rowdy behavior.
“If Santa doesn’t Scrooge Santacon, we have even bigger plans for next year!” organizers posted on the website.
SantaCon organizers said they wanted to make SantaCon a more family-friendly event in upcoming years, according to a press release that was issued Wednesday and also announced that SantaCon had retained civil rights attorney Norman Siegel to help guide the event through a “transition.”