Twelve Bars Of Christmas Producers Promise To Keep The Douchebaggery In Check This Year

By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 3, 2013 5:00PM

Organizers for the annual “Twelve Bars of Christmas” holiday bar crawl of Wrigleyville and Lakeview meet markets have promised to keep the bad behavior of the event’s participants in check this year. Even as they expand the number of bars participating, which less resembles a bar crawl as it does a street fest with bad sweaters and Santa hats.

Chris Festa of Festa Parties announced a series of measures being put in place to maintain crowd control, assist in cleanup and maintain safety for the Dec. 14 crawl. All of this is in response to last year’s event which saw numerous reports of drunken wilding. Participants threw a trash can through the window of Chicago Comics on Clark Street (Festa Parties paid for the damage) and a man was charged with stabbing another man at Red Ivy.

In a letter to bar owners and other businesses, Festa detailed the following measures:

- The hiring of 100 security guards and off-duty police officers along the route.
- Dumpsters, recycling bins, 50 porta-potties and first aid stations.
- A private waste management service to keep the trash to a minimum.
-Cereal (or as we call it "Trixie Chow"), a favorite amongst the ladies of TBOX, will only be served in two ounce cups of Golden Crisps at Clark and Newport in an attempt to reduce litter.

Many of these actions are tied to the special event permit Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) insisted Festa Parties apply for after last year’s debacle because bar crawls aren’t legally approved by the city. Festa wrote in the permit he expects 20,000 people to attend. Last year 28,000 registered for TBOX; over 40,000 people participated. Festa noted on the TBOX website this year will be “a completely closed and private event for people wearing the TBOX wristband for the entire duration of the event.”

Here’s where we lose hope, readers. Festa Parties is expanding TBOX to 50 venues this year and the route runs from Wrigleyville down Clark Street to Diversey. That’s a lot of ground for 100 security and off-duty cops to cover which is why Chicago Police will be increasing their presence along side streets in order to minimize littering and public urination.

It’s imperative that Festa Parties pulls this off because if there’s any repeat of the last year’s nonsense they could be fined or denied future permits. Maybe if they kept the “Twelve Bars of Christmas” crawl to 12 bars they could reduce their risk.