Downtown sidewalks will ‘crawl’ with people

Meghann Rise

Meghann Rise

For SDSU students, Hobo Day may be the most celebrated and forgotten day (or weekend) of the year.

However, The St Patty’s Day Pub Parade, commonly known as Pub Crawl, is climbing its way up to the status of Hobo Day weekend.

Pub Crawl takes place each March and is an opportunity for people from all walks of life to form teams, travel from bar to bar and drink until they are literally crawling to the last bar. During Pub Crawl, the downtown area is teeming with participants bedecked in green shirts, beads, shamrocks and other St. Patrick’s Day paraphernalia.

Pub Crawl is a St. Patrick’s Day tradition, even though this year Pub Crawl is not until March 21. According to Skinner’s Pub manager Karl Steege, Pub Crawl used to be held on St. Patrick’s Day and used to be much smaller. Today, Pub Crawl is bigger and more diverse. People come from all over to participate, Steege said.

“[Pub Crawl] really has become an event that people will travel to,” Steege said. “Two years ago, I took a survey of our customers. Over half of the people who participated were non-college students from out of town.”

Although there are particular bars that participate in Pub Crawl, everyone has their doors open, making it the largest day of the year for some bars.

“Pub Crawl has become the biggest single-day event of the year,” Steege said. “We actually have more problems on Hobo Day weekend because people will stay up all night and drink for two days in a row.”

Many SDSU students, like senior journalism major Christa Eimers, have participated in Pub Crawl and just enjoy it for the tradition.

“Pub Crawl is one of my favorite days of the year and has catapulted St. Patty’s Day to the top of my holiday list,” Eimers said. “By pretending I’m Irish, I’ve been trying to stretch the celebration into the entire month this year.”

However, not all students view the tradition as time worthy. SDSU graduate Matt Edzards does not hold Pub Crawl in the highest esteem.

“People drink too much and start fights, lightweights puke, bar owners pretend they like it for the tradition, not because they make bank, and cops are busy,” Edzards said.

Even if drinking on a team for an entire day does not sound appealing, there are many people who just go downtown to drink and watch the show.

“The team aspect of Pub Crawl is hardly noticeable anymore,” Steege said. “It has become such a successful event that there are many more people downtown than there are customers that are actually signed up on a team.”

Those who wish to sign up officially can go to their preferred participating bar for a sign-up sheet. There is a fee of $10, which covers the cost of a t-shirt.