SantaCon is coming back to Fairfield this year. However, this time around Fairfield University and the town are coming together to organize the event. They are implementing new measures to keep some students off the naughty list.
Fairfield First Selectman Christine Vitale said the university will host its first private SantaCon event on Dec. 6, which will be open only to students and registered guests.
“By having this be a university sponsored event for their students, we're sending the message that Fairfield is not open for a SantaCon event,” Vitale said.
The university recently released a statement stating the event came together, citing concerns from town residents over property damage, intoxication and other issues stemming from previous SantaCon events.
Town officials say the private event will be easier to manage. Some university students have had mixed reactions to the changes, according to Fairfield University senior and editor-in-chief of student newspaper the Fairfield Mirror, Kathleen Morris.
The private event will be held at Jennings Beach, away from the Lantern Point area where previous SantaCons took place.
Fairfield police will patrol the area during the event to ensure public safety. The town has advised anyone not attending the event to stay away from the area from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Morris says the Fairfield Mirror surveyed university seniors. She says some students have expressed frustration over having to go to a different part of town to attend SantaCon.. Others have supported the school, saying the event is a compromise between having fun and also ensuring public safety, she said.
While Morris said some students have expressed an interest in having their own SantaCon, as they have in years past, Morris said so far, the university event is gaining traction with students.
“I will say in conversations that I've had in person with students, the majority of students plan to attend the event at Jennings Beach,” Morris said.
While many are expected to head to Jennings Beach, they’re also going to find heightened law enforcement presence. Previous events attracted thousands to the area, and both university officials and police say it strains town resources. According to the university statement, more than 80% of attendees last year were not affiliated with the university.
Fairfield Police Sgt.t Jenna Wellington says the police are not there to spoil their fun, but issued a warning.
“If you plan to come to Fairfield to break the law and disrupt our community, you will be held accountable,” Wellington said.
SantaCon got its start as performance art critiquing consumerism around the holidays in the 1990s according to previous reporting from NPR. It rapidly spread to the northeast and has since become both popular and reviled.
While Fairfield officials praised the university for taking action, Vitale doesn’t see SantaCon becoming a town tradition anytime soon.
‘“I don't think that having 20,000 people come to Fairfield and trespass on public property and urinate in our downtown and throwing up on the streets and blocking our streets that make it difficult for people to come and go for their homes is going to be a community embraced event in the future,” Vitale said.
