Fairfield Beach Area Preps For 'Sham Jam' College Party
FAIRFIELD, CT — Three months after a particularly raucous SantaCon in December, the Fairfield Beach Area is preparing for Sham Jam, another college student-focused party scheduled for Saturday at the Seagrape on Reef Road.
Sham Jam is hosted by the ‘Grape and the Fairfield University student organization, B.R.O., and it differs from SantaCon in that Saturday’s event is ticketed, and only seniors who are 21 and older can attend. And, according to First Selectman Bill Gerber, Sham Jam will have a capacity of 535 inside the bar and in a tent erected in the parking lot.
The event marks the first, large-scale college party in the beach area since the 2023 SantaCon, which was marred by excessive drinking, fights, littering and more than a dozen young adults requiring various hospital treatments.
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Fairfield University does not sanction SantaCon, but hundreds of its students participated, prompting the private college to issue a statement after the event.
Additionally, the town held a Community Conversation in January about SantaCon, during which residents urged the town and the university to do more to contain the festivities.
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“More than 100 residents attended the meeting to share suggestions, frustrations, and ideas with a panel that included the Town’s Police, Fire, and Health Departments as well as Fairfield University and the Lantern Point Association,” Gerber wrote in a Town Update. “Since that time, discussions have continued with Town Departments, the University and landlords.
“The objectives set by the stakeholders in those discussions include minimizing the impact on the environment due to trash generated by these events, and reducing the problems caused by public intoxication. We are resolved as a community to stop the post-party environmental damage to the beach and the Sound, as well as safety concerns for the students and others on the beach at that time.”
The Seagrape will have five to seven private security personnel onsite for the event, and Gerber said the town, Fairfield University and the Lantern Point Association have also taken the following steps as a precaution:
Actions by the Town:
Actions by the University:
Actions by the Lantern Point Association
“Following the SantaCon debacle with bags of trash collected the morning after the party, and more trash taken out into the Sound by the tides, it is our intention that students treat our beautiful beaches with more respect, and properly discard their cans, bottles and cups in the receptacles provided,” Gerber said.
Residents can contact the Fairfield Police Department in case of safety concerns during Saturday’s event at the non-emergency police line at 203-254-4800. In the case of an emergency, call 911.
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