FAIRFIELD, Conn. (WFSB) – College students were getting ready to put their textbooks down and Santa hats on for this year’s holiday bash.
This comes after last year’s SantaCon ended in chaos.
At least 25 people were taken to the hospital after the holiday bash got out of hand.
As a result, police and the town capped this year’s SantaCon at 6,000 people.
Around 20,000 college-age students participated last year.
Police said it became a nightmare for the homeowners who live in Fairfield’s beach communities.
Scott Hirsh is president of the Fairfield Beach Residents’ Association.
He lives where the SantaCon chaos happened last year.
He and his wife couldn’t believe what was happening at the time.
“We attempted to leave our property later that evening, we had some kids that yelled at us, decided to use profanity, blocked our car from getting out of the driveway. And I chose not to get out of the car and do anything, but I felt threatened at the time and I think a lot of people felt threatened,” said Hirsh.
After several horror stories from the massive drinking festival, police, the town and Fairfield University made changes to keep Saturday’s event under control.
One of those changes involved moving the location of SantaCon to Jennings Beach.
It was expected to be a ticketed event for Fairfield students who would each be allowed to bring one guest.
Police said last year’s crowd created safety hazards, quality-of-life issues and an unsustainable strain on emergency services.
Authorities said Fairfield is not designed to accommodate large, unregulated crowds.
“There were so many people here being taken to the hospital for drinking too much. We couldn’t have gotten an ambulance if we wanted one,” Hirsh added.
Police planned to be on and near Jennings Beach for the event.
However, Hirsh said he wanted to know who was responsible for funding that response.
“We’re going to spend a lot of money to control the situation and I don’t think that burden should be placed on everyone in this town,” he said. “It’s not that we’re against the idea of them having a party. That’s not it. It was literally an invasion of thousands and thousands of students in our neighborhood.”
Police made the rules clear this year; people must be 21 or older, have a ticket and be a Fairfield student or their guest.
SantaCon was scheduled for Dec. 6 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Jennings Beach.
College students were getting ready to put their textbooks down and Santa hats on for this year’s holiday bash.
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