Hear Philly: Philadelphia Looks To Make History With World's Largest Bar Crawl
By Andrew Kramer
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The largest bar crawl ever officially took place last year in Kansas, drawing 4,885 people. On Saturday, May 3rd, that record is expected to be shattered in Philadelphia during what will likely be the new World's Largest Bar Crawl.
"What makes this event unique is being able to be compliant with the Guinness Book of World Records," explains Ray Sheehan, president of Philly2nite and one of the event's organizers. "Anyone can throw a bar crawl, but here there are some rules and regulations and certain things that we need to do in order for Guinness to be able to validate it as it being a true bar crawl."
To officially rewrite history, each consumer has to go to ten venues within an eight-hour window. To keep track of everything, "we built a sophisticated app specifically for this event," says Sheehan.
In order to be counted as part of the crawl, the consumer has to drink at least five ounces of alcohol, or a non-alcoholic beverage, at each of the ten venues they enter, between the hours of noon and 8 p.m., all throughout the city.
"Basically you're going to have people as far south as South Philadelphia, as far west as University City, as far north as Fairmount/Northern Liberties and as far east as the Old City section and a bunch of bars participating right downtown," Sheehan says. "People are circulating from neighborhood to neighborhood, and essentially what you have is just a full day of festive activities, going from bar to bar to bar."
Another unique aspect of this bar crawl is while people are out having a good time, they're also doing a lot of good for charity. The two charity organizations involved in the crawl include the Young Variety Club as well as the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police.
Sheehan says Philadelphians are very passionate, which made it an easy decision to create this event in the City of Brotherly Love:
"We did a little research, and we saw that Philadelphia was not the current record-holder of the bar crawl. That didn't really sit well with us, so we wanted to go out and make sure Philadelphia owns this title as being the champion and king of the World's Largest Bar Crawl."
Sheehan adds breaking a Guinness World Record is just one of the many reasons to participate:
"All-in-all, it's going to be a great event."
When you get to the first bar during the crawl, make sure you check-in to ensure your place in history and grab a wristband. There'll be no cover charge at any location as long as you're wearing it.
For more information, visit the World's Largest Bar Crawl's website.
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World's Largest Bar Crawl
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