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A student has been arrested for promoting a fake “SantaCon” party in Fairfield. connecticutwhich garnered over 600,000 views online.
Emmett Blaney, a 19-year-old Fairfield University student from Massapequa, New York, is accused of promoting the event on a private residential beach without the homeowners’ permission.
it was Was accused with criminal attempt to commit disorderly conduct and third-degree criminal attempt to commit criminal trespass and is scheduled to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on Dec. 8.
An account under a username @fairfieldsantacon The event was publicized in a series of posts on Instagram, according to Fairfield MirrorIt’s been called the “Mardi Gras of the Northeast” and is scheduled for December 5 from 11am to 5pm, the address is 445 Fairfield Road or 2 Lighthouse Point and attendees are advised to arrive by train as a cheaper alternative to Uber.
On Tuesday, the account suddenly informed followers: “Fairfield SantaCon has been canceled and moved to Jennings Beach for students only. We are sorry to everyone who was planning to come from other schools, you will not be able to make it to the beach.”
That message came five days after Fairfield University announced it would host the only official SantaCon party in the area for students and their guests, and it would be a private, ticketed event.
After problems with overcrowding and crime last year, the Fairfield Police Department is taking pains to underline that the state will not be hosting any public SantaCon gatherings this year.
FPD officials said, “In 2024, Fairfield faced significant challenges when thousands of college-aged people flocked to the beach area, creating safety hazards, quality of life issues and an unsustainable strain on emergency services.” wrote On Facebook.
“As a residential beach community, Fairfield is not designed to accommodate large, unregulated crowds. After last year’s difficulties, the Fairfield Police Department, city officials and Fairfield University collaborated to develop a more controlled and responsible approach for 2025. Most of Fairfield’s shoreline consists of private property and private beach condominiums, which are not open to the general public.
“Recently, unauthorized social media accounts have spread false and misleading information about SantaCon taking place at locations other than the approved Fairfield University event. These posts are inaccurate and are being reviewed by law enforcement.”
FPD Chief Michael Paris said, “Our priority is to protect the safety of our residents, our neighborhoods and everyone involved. If you are not invited to the private event, do not come to Fairfield expecting a public SantaCon celebration. There is none.”
First Selectman Christine Vitale said, “If you are planning to travel to Fairfield for this event, do not do so. We are making extensive plans so that our neighborhoods or emergency services are not impacted. I want our residents to know that our police will be there and will monitor all violations of the law, including trespassing.”
However, many students have expressed outrage over Blaney’s arrest on the anonymous platform Fizz mirror,
“Where is the freedom of speech. FREE EMMET,” one person wrote, while another urged people to “flood the comment sections” of the FPD’s Facebook page to protest.
The first SantaCon was held in San Francisco in 1994 and was inspired by a radical Danish theater group that staged an anarchist event in Copenhagen in 1974 in which people dressed as Santa Claus stole items from department store shelves and handed them out to members of the public as “gifts” to satirize the rampant consumerism of the holiday season, resulting in their Arrest was made.
San Francisco’s Cacophony Group aimed to recreate this spoof Christmas The phenomenon, and it quickly spread to other American cities, began in Portland in 1996, Seattle in 1997, and then Los Angeles and New York in 1998, with thousands of costumed participants taking to the streets to party.
However, in the process, the incident became associated with drunken revelry, vandalism and public urination. village voice Complaints were made in December 2014 that it had evolved from “enjoyable performance art” to a “condemned bar crawl”.