By Katarina Luketich
BU News Service

“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear” according to Buddy the Elf, but on Saturday dressing up in holiday gear did the trick.  Crowds filled the streets near Fenway with people dressed festively for SantaCon.

SantaCon Boston is a philanthropic bar crawl with proceeds benefitting Toys for Tots.  The crawl started at Game On! in Fenway at noon and ended at Hurricane O’Reilly’s at 7 pm.  In order to partake in the event, participants were required to bring either a toy or donation for Toys for Tots and be dressed up.

SantaCon is not specific to Boston, it a worldwide event that occurs in 314 locations across 42 countries.  The first SantaCon was in San Francisco in 1994 and has spread worldwide with the goal to raise money for good causes, but more importantly to spread Christmas cheer.

Temperatures were in the low 30s Saturday afternoon, but that didn’t stop these “Santas” from coming out, spreading some merriment, and even belting out some carols.