Cap Off Black Friday With the Safety Harbor Pub Crawl

So, what’s the best way to cap off a couple days' worth of gorging on turkey, watching football and battling thousands of holiday shoppers for Christmas bargains? 

How about a pub crawl?

That might not be the exact the origin behind Safety Harbor’s version of the popular bar hopping activity, but since it falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving this time, the event certainly fits the bill as a post-Turkey Day and Black Friday stress reliever.

“The idea started three years ago when someone won a raffle to an area restaurant, and they came to me and asked if I’d like to organize a pub crawl,” Heather Hildick, who owned the popular eatery Heather’s Place at the time, said.

“The idea was to benefit the small businesses in the community, to help them turn a profit, and to expose people to places they might not normally visit.”

Following the first couple of crawls, Hildick stepped away from the event after getting out of the restaurant business for a while.

But now she’s back, managing at the Nantucket Bucket — the eatery that occupies her restaurant’s old spot — and she leading the charge for the 2012 Black Friday edition of the Safety Harbor Pub Crawl.

“It’s not that it’s a lot of work, but it is work,” she said of organizing the event.

Hildick said the event is open to whoever wants to partake in the journey from one downtown establishment to another. Fellow organizer Stacy Roth said the average attendance is 45-60 people, but she expects around 100 participants this time.

This year there will be eight bars participating, with tee shirts, a poker game and prizes enhancing the experience. 

"If you stop at every bar and get a card, we will give a prize at the end of the night for the best hand," she explained. Also, the proceeds from the tee shirts will go to the Mattie Williams Neighborhood Family Center.

The crawl kicks off at Nantucket Bucket between 5 and 5:30 Friday evening, and from there the participants will hit any or all of the spots along the route before meeting back at the Bucket at 10:30. 

And Hildick says it’s important to remember one thing about the event. 

“There are no rules, except to show up and have fun.”

Establishments Participating in the 5th Safety Harbor Pub Crawl:

• Bar Fly
• Copperheads
• Nolan's Pub
• Whistle Stop
• Cafe Orlando
• Tapping the Vine
• 8th Avenue Pub
• Nantucket Bucket

For more information, visit the event's Facebook page.