Samuel Cousins, Jenny Stasio, and I Didn’t Get His Name on the Right!  Don’t Overlook the Tall Guy in the Back Row at Pat’s Pizza Yesterday!  Stasio Was Accepting Donations for the Family Crises Center.

This Happy Group Came From “Somewhere” to Enjoy it All.

A Christmas Tree with Santa Celebrating Their First Year of Love; The Two Met at Last Year’s Crawl at Pat’s.

Susan & Jeffrey Ayotte Came up From Cape Cod for the Fun and the Charity of it All.  (No Scrooges Allowed.)

Here’s a Fun Group From Somewhere Enjoying Themselves at Pat’s.  (Maybe Deering?)

You Are Not Seeing Double or Triple! All Three Lynch Brothers Were There.  One Grinch On Each Side of Santa from the North Pole Workshop – in the Center!

By Carol McCracken  (Post # 2,492)

“This is a response to kid-centerism of major holidays,” said Samuel Cousins, at Pat’s Pizza on Market Street late yesterday afternoon. “It’s something just for adults to go out and have fun with and socialize without being so family focused,” said Cousins, a professional photographer. It’s become a tradition in downtown Portland among many other traditions.

The fifth annual SantaconPortland started late yesterday afternoon at Pat’s Pizza with a full agenda of pubs to visit and photo ops that tested the stamina of the hardiest in Portland and a few hardy souls “from away” as well.   This loosely organized group has a website – www.Santacon PWM.com and 800 (That’s not a Typo!)  people signed up on-line to participate in this year’s Pub Crawl.  Although not everyone will show, because of  the surprisingly good weather, many of those 800 were expected to attend to support what has also become a charity event for the Families Crises Center.  Donations were gratefully accepted from those in the events floor of Pat’s Pizza by Stasio.  (Please see above right photo.)

There was supposed to be a photo op in Monument Square in front of the Christmas Tree at 4:45 pm.  But either they or this blogger arrived too late!  Perhaps they beat this blogger to The Thirsty Pig on Exchange Street one of the final stops on the Crawl. The blogger went home to bed!

Chris Tyll, owner of Pat’s Pizza, Market Street, was a gracious host.  “This is the third year we’ve done this and it gets better every year.  So do the Santa’s.”  Anyone wearing a Santa suit gets a special deal on drinks wherever they stop.  Even Grinch’s!  (See  left photo.)

Santacom started in San Francisco in the early 1990s.  From there it spread across the country.  It is now a well-established tradition in Portland on the first Saturday of December.

“It’s sort of the Halloween party of the Christmas holiday season,” said this blogger.

There is ALWAYS A Serious Santa at Every Party!