The first Great American Bar Crawl will take place in downtown Wilmington on Saturday.
 
Organizer Zach Medford said the goal of the crawl is to support local bars and evoke a spirit of patriotism and American pride.
 
“This being an election year, many Americans are divided,” Medford said. “We want to invite people to put all of that aside and celebrate the birth of our great country. Red, white or blue, we want to party with you.”
 
Local bars currently signed on to participate include City Limits Saloon, KGB, Pravda, Buzz’s Roost, Tavern Law, The Pour House and The Husk. Medford said he is still waiting on final contracts from several other locations.
 
There is no fee for the bars to participate, but each must commit to running three drink specials for participants, playing classic American music and decorating with red, white and blue. Participants are also encouraged to bring out their stars and stripes.
 
“We hope to bring each of these bars some new patrons who may not yet have had the chance to stop in for a drink,” Medford said. “Hopefully it helps them develop some new customers.”
 
Medford and his partners brought the Great American Bar Crawl to Raleigh on July 2 and will continue to host crawls throughout the summer in Charlotte, Nashville, New Orleans, Austin and Washington, D.C.
 
Registration will take place at City Limits Saloon on 2-5 p.m. Saturday Registration is also available online here.
 
In other boozy news, if you’ve been wondering which downtown bar might have the best Bloody Mary, patrons of the Bloody Mary bar crawl might have the answer.
 
Participants in Sunday’s crawl awarded top prize to bartenders Mary George of Duck and Dive and Eileen Larkin of The Pour House, who tied for first place. Honorable mention went to the Liquid Room and Tavern Law.
 
Only bars, not restaurant bars, were allowed to take place in the crawl, said The Pour House owner Joe Apkarian.
 
“That way bars aren’t trying to compete with restaurants that can serve food as accompaniments to the Bloody Marys,” Apkarian said.

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