It's beginning to look a lot like SantaCon!

Back in 2011, the H.E.A.D. Society stumbled upon SantaCon while exploring North Beach on the, now famous, Italian Cookie Walk. It started as serendipity but since then this mass gathering of people dressed like Santa Claus has become an annual H.E.A.D. holiday tradition.

Imagine an army of Santas, maybe 10,000 or more, unleashed on the streets of San Francisco. Now, as you know, the H.E.A.D. Society explores the food and drink history of Northern California and SantaCon is totally home-grown. Back in 1974, members of a SF social club turned a Danish political demonstration against the commercialization of Christmas into a flash mob event filled with holiday cheer.

SantaCon is a non-political, purely surreal event. It combines bawdy and harmless behavior (dressing like Santa and drinking) with the singing of carols, and the giving of small gifts to strangers. Put on your Santa suit and join our happy band of merry pranksters. It’s worldwide holiday sensation.

This year's SantaCon H.E.A.D. Trip is scheduled for Saturday, December 13th. The fun starts at Lefty O’Doul’s just off Union Square (333 Geary Street). We’ll gather there and enjoy some “holiday cheer”. Once "cheered up", we’ll cross Union Square and work our way through Chinatown, over the hill and into North Beach – ground zero for our SantaCon celebration. Along the way we’ll be stopping for lunch - last year it was Chinese and two years ago we ate pizza.

Remember to bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to the SFFD toy drive. Don’t cheap out. You're Santa after all so bring something good. You’ll make a hunky firefighter smile! Also, bring candy to pass out along the way.