Hoboken Leprecon Bar Crawl Returns This Weekend With Later Start Time

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken's most infamous holiday-themed bar crawl returns this Saturday.

An "Official Hoboken LepreCon Bar Crawl" has more than 16 bars participating, and kicks off at noon this Saturday, which is later than the 10 a.m. start time in some past years.

Another Hoboken Leprecon event is advertised that will run for 12 hours on March 21.

These crawls have become controversial due to the drunken behavior and house parties that used to accompany them, but police said last year that there were no arrests connected to the crawls. READ MORE: Traditional Leprecon Weekend Was Quiet

Police have beefed up patrols and advertised steep fines over the years.

The Origin

The privately run crawls originated in response to a canceled annual parade.

In 2012, Hoboken's independent St. Patrick's Parade Committee — a decades-old group that was not a part of city government — posted a letter on its website saying it would cancel the 26th annual parade that year.

They traditionally held the family-friendly parade the first Saturday in March to secure the best bands. But then-Mayor Dawn Zimmer suggested the event be held on a weeknight instead of Saturday, in order to cut down on house parties and other events that accompanied it. The organizers said no, and the parade ceased to exist.

Independent entrepreneurs swooped in to fill the void with bar crawls.

Bars have said that these holiday crawls provide enough income to get them through slow summer months.

In recent years, public safety officials have said that the holiday crawls, including SantaCon in December, have become more "subdued."

The Christmas and St. Patrick's crawls do tend to attract racy t-shirts and ugly sweaters.

In 2022, after posting a survey about whether to bring back the parade, a local business group sent a float through the streets.

See photos from the last LepreCon before the pandemic lockdown here.