TBOX Founder Says This Year’s Bar Crawl Will Be His Last. Will The Infamous Event Live On?

WRIGLEYVILLE — The Santa suits, cereal shots and questionable Christmas sweaters could be taking one final strut down Clark Street this holiday season. The infamous Twelve Bars of Xmas bar crawl, better known as TBOX, will celebrate its 30th anniversary in December — and its founder says it will be his last one. Christopher “Mister” Festa announced in a social media video that the 2026 crawl will be his final year producing and leading the sprawling Wrigleyville party, which has drawn thousands of costumed revelers to neighborhood bars every December since 1996. “What started as a little gathering in 1996 has lasted half my life, and it s become more than I ever could have imagined,” Festa said in the video. “It s been a beautiful ride, but closing time is almost here.” Festa, 60, said the decision comes after three decades of organizing the event and a feeling that it is time to move on. “Well, first, let s face it. I am very, very old,” he joked. “While I ve avoided g