From Fun To Fundraising

A Brief History of the Ghent Bar Tours

How did this all get started? When was the first bar tour? Why a bar tour? Why in Ghent? How did it become a charity event? Why is the Make-A-Wish Foundation® the primary benefactor? The answers to all these questions and more are below. Whether you’ve been a part of this series of events right from the start or have just recently discovered our online home, you’re always welcome at our events. Our next big event is the 2008 Ghent Summer Bar Tour on July 26th – we hope to see you there! As always, if you ever have any questions, you can contact us through this site.

Roots

Way back when in the dog days of summer 2005, a TVA beach volleyball team named the Yard Dogs (composed of several co-workers from the shipyard of Northrop Grumman Newport News) played weekly matches. This team was composed of people relatively new to the Hampton Roads area who lived primarily in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. It was decided that the two factions would each take turns showing the others around their local area one weekend evening.

The Norfolk crew went first, deciding to go out in their local midtown neighborhood of Ghent one Friday evening after work. In order to truly get the “feel of the town”, it was decided to hop between several bars that evening and to invite several friends as well to make it worth the venture out. Almost overnight, the first Ghent Bar Tour was born. The crowd only managed to make it to 8 of the planned 15 stops but there was nothing but fun and libations every step of the way. Some made it late into the night, others called it an early night (some by choice, some by Guiness).

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