A family portrait from Krampusnacht at Independent Bar and Café in Tampa, Florida on Dec. 4, 2021. Credit: Photo via Independentseminoleheights/Facebook

If your kid is a piece of shit, or just loves freaky monsters, it’s time to introduce them to Krampus. The horny, German holiday icon is pretty much St. Nick’s right hand and is deployed to punish baddies with a birch rod.

Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood has long embraced the folk legend, and will continue the tradition during Krampusnacht at Independent Bar and Cafe where the half-goat, half-demon is the star of a three-hour celebration that includes a holiday gift market, cello tunes from Best of the Bay–winning musician Melissa Grady, holiday ales and hot mulled wine.

And if you need more Krampus in your life, the German American Society of Pinellas County, hosts another Krampus market next Saturday, Dec. 7.

There’s no cover for either event.

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This article appears in Nov 21-27, 2024.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...