Community Building Tip: Crawl

[ysabetwordsmith]

For my current set of tips, I'm using the list "101 Small Ways You Can Improve Your City.

57. Organize a bar crawl. Phoenix’s Meet Me Downtown functions as a weekly after-work mixer as well as a fitness event that gets people out on the streets and into local bars and restaurants. A variety of routes send participants into new neighborhoods and participating businesses offer deals for those who walk or run.

Well, that sounds like a terrible idea. 0_o

Let's just substitute something less likely to cause alcohol poisoning.  Restaurants are okay, though.  Other ideas: crawl the local parks, bookstores, or coffee shops.  Walk/bike discounts are also an attraction, so consider making a loop of businesses that do that.  Just don't focus on  the ones that serve alcohol.

Comments

[kengr]

Back in the 70s, the local SF club decided to have a "porn crawl". There were a dozen or so "adult" businesses in a small area downtown, with several more not all that far away.

There may have been osome attempt to zone them out at the time which would have made this a "last chance" thing. But I'm not certain if that was then or later.

So we hit Darcelles (which is still there!) for a drag show, some place with strippers, a bunch of bookstores and more.

One of the fun bits was that this was definitely co-ed, and the women may have had more fun than the guys. They were certainly better at snarky comments when such were needed.

And they were needed at times. Especially regarding some of the "toys" a few shops had. :-)

*laugh*

[ysabetwordsmith]

That is so awesome. :D

[dewline]

I once tried to organize a bookstore crawl here in Ottawa, back when we had far more independent bookstores than at present. It was fun, but we never did get from Centretown to the ByWard Market/Lowertown shops properly.

[fyreharper]

That sounds difficult, since it involves having to *leave a bookstore* a whole bunch of times in a row ;)

[dewline]

We not only had more bookstores then, we had more kinds of bookstores then.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

*wist* I miss that. Around here used to have more bookstores too. There used to be a Waldenbooks in the mall, a Christian bookstore, a little bohemian place just off campus that sold things like music books and feminist titles, and a used book store. There was actually very little overlap in what they sold, so they weren't really competing with each other.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Good point. I would really suck at that.

[erulisse]

When I was in Dallas there was an area that had a bunch of artist studios and galleries and things and once a month or so they would hold an "art walk" where everybody would be open for several hours in the evening and there would also usually be some outdoor entertainment and maybe a food truck or two and you could go around and look at all the art, get to know the artists. It was pretty awesome. It unfortunately ended when the artists got pushed out because the area was undergoing a big redevelopment project but it was a really nice example of what's possible.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> When I was in Dallas there was an area that had a bunch of artist studios and galleries and things and once a month or so they would hold an "art walk" where everybody would be open for several hours in the evening and there would also usually be some outdoor entertainment and maybe a food truck or two and you could go around and look at all the art, get to know the artists. It was pretty awesome. <<

That is a wonderful idea! :D Feel free to prompt for things like that.

>> It unfortunately ended when the artists got pushed out because the area was undergoing a big redevelopment project but it was a really nice example of what's possible. <<

Based on what I've seen of urban economics, the city probably lost money on that from the tax base alone, before factoring changes in shopping patterns. It turns out that many small businesses generate much more tax revenue than a few large businesses, even if the small ones are crummy and the large ones are shiny, new, and wealthy. It's a pixelation issue.

[siberian_skys]

I always wanted to do a pub crawl in the UK. Alcohol doesn't have to be involved. I love the food, the beautiful old wood work, and some of them have so much history.

[caera_ash]

You know, in the right place a crawl of local coffee shops can also be an art thing, in that a lot of the local places I know display art (maybe for sale sometimes?) by local artists.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I've seen that too. It's a good way to explore local art.