November 26, 2007
Just as the chaos of the holiday season mounts to its apex, the Reno downtown bar district will get its annual visit from the parade of pub-crawling Santas prepared to spread Christmas cheer.
The evening begins around 7:30 – 8 p.m. at two locations, where red-suit clad men and women meet to pick up their maps and joyfully mingle through the downtown district, stopping at 22 selected locations, bringing the joy of giving to revelers along the way.
The event, free to participants, can be expected to bring in about $4,000 to $5,000 in donations to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada. The venues along the route are asked to donate to the cause, and as a reward for their generosity, they receive a visit from the crawling Clauses.
Organizer Matthew Goedert, a San Francisco attorney, has been spreading the good tidings with his crew of Santas for the past eight years. He says Santa is a beloved icon who always produced good interaction with the customers. The event is well-received for the most part and people react favorably. When you’re dressed as Santa, people love you and want to talk to you.
Although most of the revelers are 30-something professionals by day, the group of regulars includes at least one professional Santa Claus. Crawlers costumes can range from $13 one-time use discount-store goods to bawdy or barely-there wear for grown-ups. Some Santas continue to dump hundreds of dollars into their Kris Kringle get-ups and Mrs. Claus attire.
Participants aren’t asked to pay a fee, Goedert says, one, because of the cost of the costumes and drinks, and two, because he does not want to be held responsible for the behavior of people he doesn’t know. Some folks in the crawl can get a little too absorbed in the de-stressing practices and find themselves out of hand. While 2006 saw only two Santas hauled in via paddywagon, (one for flashing and another for standing in the middle of the street blocking traffic,) Goedert says, “It’s a good event and hopefully, everybody behaves themselves.”
The www.renosantacrawl .com website has a list of crawl rules.
Although the continually growing event seems to be a lot to handle each year, Goedert says he has continued to host the event because of the charity element involved. “that makes it more worth the time and more appealing.”
The evening wraps with Christmas carols under the Reno Arch.
