15th Annual Ferndale Pub Crawl

(Ferndale, MI) - One of the most popular and anticipated events each summer in Ferndale is the annual Ferndale Pub Crawl, this year on Friday July 29. The number of participants is expected to reach 2,000 with eighteen venues participating in the night-long charitable event. Top sponsor this year is 42 Below Vodka, along with major sponsors Dino’s, Rosie O’Grady’s, Diablo Cantina, Danny’s Irish Pub, the Grasshopper and Southfield Green Medical Group.

The event began 14 years ago with 36 people from a gay residents group walking as a group to a half dozen bars in downtown Ferndale. Over the years the event grew and expanded to be inclusive of the greater community and added clubs and bars as the downtown itself grew. Now one of your Oakland County Commissioners, I have been a chair or co-chair of the event every year since its inception.

New venues this year include the Grasshopper and Valentine’s Vodka Bar and Distillery.

All funds raised go to local tax-deductible charities; this year including the Ferndale Police Auxilliary, FernCare, Ferndale Community Foundation, and the Michigan AIDS Coalition.
Since 1997 more than $150,000 has been raised for a variety of groups.

The pub crawl is a walking tour of the pubs, bars, and restaurants in downtown Ferndale. No motor vehicles are permitted. The crowds of residents and visitors are diverse, made up of women and men, gay and straight, from many cities and regions of Michigan, other states and even visitors from other countries; they range in age from 21 to late 70s. They are professionals, blue and pink collar workers, millennials and seniors. They travel in large groups to each venue, buy food and drinks, and see the shops and stores that abound in vibrant downtown Ferndale.

Traditionally the Ferndale mayor sends off the first groups, going back to Mayor Chuck Goedert in 1997 through Mayors Porter and me, and now Dave Coulter.

“The Pub Crawl not only showcases Ferndale's many fine businesses while offering participants a fun night in our city, but it also lends much needed financial help to non-profit organizations working hard to improve the community," said Mayor Coulter.

Tickets are $10 and are purchased the night of the event at Boogie Fever Café on Woodward where the crawl begins..
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