Sunday, December 13, 2009

SantaCon

Posted by David


One of the keys to living in New York is riding the waves of serendipity. Often it is all about being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes you are in the right place at the right time but don't find out until later ("What? Madonna and Cher had a cat fight in front of the Marriott Marquis yesterday? But I was in Times Square yesterday! How did I miss that?") Other times you are in the right place but at the wrong time ("May I take your order? By the way, if you'd been here an hour earlier you'd have seen the Obamas feeding each other creme brulee.")

But sometimes you nail it, and then New York unfolds its magic for you.

I was just finishing my workout at the gym (I'm gay and this is NYC, so it's the law) when my phone buzzed and a friend's text announced: "I'm at SantaCon! Where are you?"

OMG! I'd seen people earlier in the day wandering about in Santa and other related holiday costumes and knew something was up.


Even while I was heading to the gym, I saw groups in Xmas regalia marching past. Yet I couldn't put two and two together.


But as luck would have it, SantaCon was convening at Washington Square Park, a mere ten minute walk from my gym. So I threw on my clothes, grabbed my camera, (which I had brought along because it was 12 of 12 day. More serendipity), and dashed and danced and pranced over to the park.


More photos and video after the jump!




Before I even arrived I was greeted with some holiday visual silliness:


Then as I reached the center of the park, the Sant-osity began to increase
until it reached critical mass

I found my friends Narisara and Roger and their friend Paul.

There was a great deal of creativity on display including:

a gingerbread girl,

shiny Santas,

I'm guessing the ghost of Christmas Past or a cornucopia,

a SantaList ad,

Elvis (I think),

The terror of Whoville,

Mutant Ninja Santas,

Jolly old Michael Meyers,

A slumber party,

A rather risqué tree,

Some Santas from Boro Park,

And a rather reckless Santa.

I could try and describe the energy of the scene to you, but why should I bother, when thanks to the miracle of video I can simply show you?


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