North Jersey Mayor Discourages Participation In Famed St. Patrick's Day Bar Crawl

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken's most infamous bar crawl — known as "Leprecon" —is on for this Saturday again, and several websites are selling tickets.

[UPDATE: See photos from the 2022 event here.]

"To be clear, this has never been, and never will be, a city sanctioned or sponsored event," said city spokesperson Marilyn Baer this week. "As in previous years, Mayor Ravi Bhalla encourages individuals and businesses not to participate."

She added, "The Hoboken Police Department will have the appropriate staffing levels and an increased presence to keep residents and visitors safe throughout the weekend, and the department’s ABC investigators will be conducting spot inspections of participating establishments."

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The bar crawl has resulted in some arrests over the years, but city officials have stopped short of forcing its cancellation or reduced hours. However, due to well-publicized fines and other enforcement measures, arrests have declined.

In addition, local bar/restaurants have said that major celebrations allow them to stay in business through slower times.

"Let's keep the tradition going!" says one site, boasting that the event will start at "Hoboken's trendiest bars" at 10 a.m. and continue through 5. "Our Hoboken Leprecon Crawl is a phenomenon that takes place every March and is better than ever in 2022."

The crawl began about 10 years ago after then-Mayor Dawn Zimmer encouraged the organizers of the traditional Hoboken St. Patrick's Parade to move that event from Saturdays to a weekday, in order to cut the private parties that accompanied it. The planners of the parade refused, and canceled the 25-year tradition for good.

In its wake, independent entrepreneurs (not related to the St. Patrick's Parade Committee) set up a bar crawl that — just like Hoboken Santacon — aroused the ire of local public officials.

In the last few years, the pandemic has quelled bar crawl activity, but it may ramp up this weekend as indoor mask mandates and some other COVID protocols ease.

There's also a "Luck of the Irish Crawl" slated for the following Saturday, March 12.

Generally, though, the biggest celebration is the first Saturday in March, when the parade used to be held.

In recent years:

• There were six arrests during Hoboken Leprecon 2020.
• Leprecon 2021 was canceled.
• There were four arrests this past December during Hoboken Santacon.

This past November, the city of Hoboken announced that only vaccinated patrons could participate in Hoboken Santacon.

Hoboken repealed its indoor mask mandate last month, with some exceptions. READ MORE: Hoboken To Repeal Mask Mandate, With Exceptions

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