2006 Ghent Summer Bar Tour

July 29th, 2006

Thanks to the friendly local bar staffs, our 40 cheerful volunteers, and nearly 300 enthusiastic participants, the 2006 Ghent Summer Bar Tour was able to raise $6,750 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Eastern Virginia! Any and all pictures we've received to date have been posted in our online photo gallery. Thanks for coming out and we'll see you all again at the Winter Bar Tour on February 24th!

Event Summary

The 2006 Ghent Winter Bar Tour had not even finished and we were already being asked, "When's the next one?" Never wanting to disappoint, the 2006 Ghent Summer Bar Tour was held on Saturday, July 29th with all proceeds again going to our charity of choice, the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Eastern Virginia. The tour began at the registration booth located very conveniently inside the air-conditioned Zio's on Colley Avenue where participants rolled through at a constant pace from 4:00 until 6:00 PM. Many participants grabbed a first drink here and then headed on their way to discover the rest of our dozen highlighted locations.

2006 Ghent Summer Bar Tour Map

The heat kept people thirsty and constantly using the handheld Make-A-Wish fans each participant received in their registration bag. The Texas Hold 'Em Tournament was again a popular draw as participants roamed from bar to bar in search of the one card that would complete their winning hand. Special competitions at two of the bars kept the crowd excited as they shot pong balls and flipped cups to win prizes they could show off on the spot. Our gracious photographer, of Jo and Joni Photography, was busy all evening racing around our dozen stops and snapping photos of everyone having a good time. Indeed, lively conversation was everywhere as old friends met new friends and new friends met old friends and people found out that hanging out in Ghent is a cool thing to do even if the heat disagreed.

Participants gradually crawled their way to the New Belmont for the "closing ceremony" where the crowd once again packed the upstairs bar from wall to wall. Congratulations to all of the competition and raffle winners we announced at the ceremony - we hope you enjoy your prizes! A special thank you to Make-A-Wish Board Member Greg Swaim who threw his name in the hat for our 50/50 raffle, won the $200 prize, and then ever so kindly turned right around and donated all of his winnings to the Make-A-Wish Foundation® - what a classy guy! After giving a well-deserved thank you to all of our super volunteers, particularly those on the planning committee (one of whom turned 22 at midnight and got "Happy Birthday" sung to them by everyone), we made our fundraising announcement - close to $7,000! All of these proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Eastern Virginia and directly support children in the local Hampton Roads area.

Finally, two rock bands were kind enough to donate their musical talents for our good cause and played after our "closing ceremony" to entertain the masses for the remainder of the evening. Thanks for your support guys!

Foxes Through Fences	A New Dawn Fades

In the end, the 2006 Ghent Summer Bar Tour was more than just a simple charity event - it was an experience that everyone could come out and enjoy and tell stories about for some time to come. And it's something everyone can do again. Planning for the next tour started before the registration booth for this event ever even opened. We hope you all had fun at this tour and look forward to seeing you out again on February 24th!

Thanks again to all of our great volunteers, particularly those on the planning committee, that helped make this event such a success.

Planning Committee	Summer 2006 Volunteers

Laura Watkins, Jenny Britt, Scott Guirlinger, Sherrie Steiner, Marlo Marzano, Joan Steele	THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS! See you again in February!

Any pictures we currently have from this event have been posted in our photo gallery. Special thanks to of Jo and Joni Photography for taking so many great pictures of this event! If you have additional pictures from the event that you would like us to post so that your friends who didn't make it out can see just how much fun they missed, please send them as attachments to and we will post them as soon as possible. Thanks!

Have your own thoughts or comments on the 2006 Ghent Summer Bar Tour? Submit a review and let us know what you liked about this tour and/or what you think we could improve at the next one.

Participating Bars

We had a grand total of TWELVE (that's right - a full dozen!) stops on this tour. Huge thanks go out to each of these locations - we couldn't have a bar tour without them!

There were also a few additional bar tour sponsors this time around. Check them out when you get the chance and stop on by the next time you're in the Ghent area!

816 W 21st St

520-G1 W 21st St

Special Thanks

Special thanks to those businesses who were so kind to make donations of products and/or services in support of this charity event:

Tropical Smoothie 742 W 21st St	Pizza Hut 500 W 21st St	Hi-Ho Silver 321 W 21st St
Office Depot Business Solutions Division	McCormack & Puryear Jewelers 331 W 21st St	LAB, Ltd. 2801 Park Crescent
Things Remembered 701 Lynnhaven Pkwy (Virginia Beach)	Norfolk Checker Taxi 6304 Sewells Point Rd	Northrop Grumman 4101 Washington Ave (Newport News)
	Jo and Joni Photography

Fun & Games

During the bar tour, we held the following four competitions that seemed to motivate the masses to keep moving and keep drinking to beat the heat! For whatever reason, people always seem to like collecting "stuff" - so we provided as much "stuff" as possible for people to win. Congratulations to all the competition winners - we hope you enjoy your prizes!

Texax Hold 'Em Tournament - Back by popular demand! Collect playing cards from FIVE or more bar tour locations and have one of the four best poker hands (or one worst poker hand) to win great prizes! Volunteers at each location you visit will hand you one playing card from a stack of shuffled decks. Bring your poker hand with you to the "closing ceremony" at The New Belmont where competition winners will be announced and prizes awarded. Most bar tour locations are limited to 150 playing cards each.
50/50 Raffle - Win back your bar tab! The winner takes home half of the money from ticket sales (the other half goes to the Make-A-Wish Foundation®). Raffle tickets will be sold at the start location (Zio's) as well as the end location (The New Belmont). Bring your tickets with you to the "closing ceremony" at The New Belmont where the winner will be announced and cash prize awarded.
Fastest Flip - Be the fastest to flip 5 consecutive cups! Gather a few friends (old and new) to compete against you and receive a small prize as the winner of your "heat". The winning time from each heat will be recorded and the overall fastest flipper announced during our "closing ceremony" at The New Belmont where they will receive a larger prize.
Pong Shot - Sink a pong ball in a cup and win a small prize! Sink as many as you can in a row and try to win a larger prize! The most consecutive shots made will be recorded as the event progresses and the overall winner announced during our "closing ceremony" at The New Belmont.

A special thank you to Make-A-Wish Board Member Greg Swaim who threw his name in the hat for our 50/50 raffle, won the $200 prize, and then ever so kindly turned right around and donated all of his winnings to the Make-A-Wish Foundation® - what a classy guy!

Supported Organization

All proceeds from this event went directly to the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Eastern Virginia. This local Make-A-Wish chapter serves all of Hampton Roads, the Peninsula, Williamsburg, Emporia, Franklin, York, James City, Sussex, Isle of Wight, Surry, Greensville & Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore. The mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation® is to grant wishes to children between the ages of 2½ and 18 who have life threatening medical conditions. The organization provides a bright moment of hope, strength, and joy for a child in what can sometimes be a dark routine of treatments, doctors and hospital visits. Many thanks to the Make-A-Wish staff for their unwavering support before, during, and after this big event.

The proceeds from the 2006 Summer Bar Tour made a wish come true for Sinje. Sinje's wish took place on August 5th, 2006 when she and her family were picked up and sent off on a Disney Cruise! Sinje had her own special thoughts on the Make-A-Wish Foundation® that she shared with us in a poem she wrote. Thank you all for your part in Sharing the Power of a Wish! Pictures from Sinje's wish trip have been posted to her album in our online photo gallery.