After a six-year hiatus, the Glenside Pub Crawl is making a comeback later this month.
Chuck Dougherty, the Crawl’s long-time organizer, said he is leaning towards the evening of Wednesday, December 28 to dust off the tradition.
“We have 15 medals printed up and ready to go,” Chuck said.
The Crawl has a pedigreed—and surprisingly creative—history that dates back to 2002. Each year featured a new theme (e.g., toga, 1970s, circus, Olympics, Elvis & Marilyn) until things came to a necessary halt in 2016.
“I was missing things with my kids, so I had to give it up. It’s a good time. Superheroes was the first year where I realized I could tell people to dress up as anything,” Chuck said. “My brother-in-law came the next year as Superman dressed as a cowboy. He was Superman with a toga the next year.”
In its heyday, the Crawl had hundreds of participants, a rotating logo, website, Facebook page, t-shirts, giveaways and awards. Participating bars crafted drink specials specific to the Crawl’s theme.
“The whole thing was great. We’d sell about 300 t-shirts. We thought about buying a bus and going all over Montgomery County as a business model, but the liability would probably be pretty steep. It’s all fun,” he said.
The Crawl traditionally ran in March, though the date has been changed for 2022 to celebrate Chuck’s oldest daughter’s birthday. While there’s excitement to revamp the tradition, some of the Crawl’s former watering holes—The Blue Comet, Plush, and G.G. Brewers, to name a few—have either moved or gone out of business.
In their stead, the Crawl will include the Glenside Pub, Bill’s Best, Franklin’s, The Ways, Roberts Block, The Cork, the Keswick Tavern, and possibly Jerzee’s in its free-flowing route, stopping at each establishment for an hour or so.
Chuck reminisced about the Crawl’s origins: a half-serious conversation at a neighborhood picnic more than 20 years ago.
“We’re drinking from a keg, joking around about a bar crawl in Glenside, and I told my friend I’d put out a schedule. At first it was just our group of friends, and it ballooned every year from there,” he said. “That kind of happens.”
To revisit posts from the Crawl’s glory days, you can visit its Facebook page. Glenside Local will be in touch with more details and a confirmed date/time as we get closer to the event.
Like what you’re reading? Follow us on Facebook or sign up for GlensideLocal’s “Daily Buzz” newsletter below.