UPDATE, 7:07 p.m.: Be sure to check out PDX Pipeline's excellent Santacon/Anticon photos in their Flickr pool. Click here!

Say what you will, Santacon purists: we're glad a splinter group has decided to hold North Portland Santacon, aka Anticon, for the second year in a row. It's a real treat to see scores of shmammered Santas stumbling - er - walking merrily down the streets of Kenton (see right - apologies for crappy quality; taken on bike), with not a care in the world except where they'll find their next beer. So what if the date and time is announced well in advance? Sure, it shafts the spontanaeity, but it does so in the interest of inclusiveness. And it gets more downtown dwellers up to our neck of the woods, where they discover that hey, NoPo ain't so bad after all.

Spotted any Santas on your street? Send your photos to info@portlandsentinel.com.