From Fun To Fundraising

A Brief History of the Ghent Bar Tours

Continued from Page 3

Expansion

Ever since our first successful event in the winter of 2006, we have received suggestions on other local areas that participants and volunteers felt would be great for another charity pub crawl event. Following the 2007 Ghent Summer Bar Tour, we finally began planning for our first pub crawl outside of Ghent, the Olde Towne Fall Crawl just across the Elizabeth river in historic Portsmouth. We weren't sure how a different location, different charity, and different season (football season) would affect our participation and fundraising, but our loyal participants came out in force and brought some of their friends along to give us a nice crowd of 250 participants that helped us to raise $4,570 for the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. The event was so well received by participants, volunteers, and bar management that several months later planning began for another similar venture in the same locale, the Olde Towne Spring Crawl to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

In an effort to give our usual volunteers a break from helping run events and instead give them a chance to actually enjoy one, we borrowed some ideas from groups in Baltimore and San Diego, we came up with a fresh new idea for a pub crawl event during the holiday season. On December 1, 2007, thirty-nine people dressed in full Santa Claus and Mrs/Miss Claus attire rolled down Granby Street in downtown Norfolk in the 1st Annual Norfolk Santa Crawl. This event was very different from our usual events, in agenda, rules, attire, and capacity and we had an absolute blast pulling it off. The pictures alone were more than worth our efforts. In and amogst the hilarity and fun, we were able to raise $1,730 for the DC/MD/VA chapter of the ALS Association.

It is our intent to continue this simple series of charity pub crawls (and to hold them in general on the same dates each year) as long as we are able and have the support of the community around us. We hope you’ve enjoyed this quick trip down our “memory lane” and invite you to come make your own memories, whether for the first time or the umpteenth time, at the 2009 Ghent Winter Bar Tour on Saturday, February 28th. It’s a night out on the town that you (and your friends) really won’t want to miss.

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