Crawl for the Coast by Christie Bradley With nine hours of musical entertainment, Auburn locals Walter Ager and Albert Fernandez are bringing coastal cleanup efforts to Auburn with a bar crawl this Thursday, Sept. 2. “Crawl for the Coast” will kick off at 5 p.m. and go until 2 a.m. and will include seven bars and 11 band. There will also be discounts offered at Little Italy, Mellow Mushroom, Pita Pit, Calypso‟s and Big Blue Bagel. Tickets are on sale now for $25 at Da Gallery, Little Italy and Bourbon Street. Participating bars include SkyBar, 17-16, The Vault, Big Blue Bagel, Speakeasy, Ale House and Bourbon Street.
Big Blue Bagel General Manager John Mark Davis said they decided to participate because they thought it was a worthy cause. “We at the Big Blue Bagel decided to participate in the „Crawl for the Coast‟ because, being from the south and spending numerous memorable times on the gulf coast with family and friends, we felt doing anything we can to help would be a worthy cause,” he said. Bands that will be participating and playing for free are Ernest goes to Jazz, Mr. Jr, Katie Martin, The Vegabonds, Miles Yarbrough, Jason McMillan, Chronic Blues, Senate Horse, The Good Doctor, Noise Organization and Big Gigantic. Fernandez, a New Orleans and Mobile native, came up with the idea of “Crawl for the Coast” over the summer. He and Ager started planning the event back in June. “I am from the coast, and that fact alone is the main reason of my involvement with the event,” Fernandez said. “I have very strong feelings towards the devastation the oil spill has caused right in my backyard. It‟s affecting everyone, and this is a fun and easy way for college students to get involved in helping out with the relief.” Community Foundation of South Alabama, Greater New Orleans Foundation, Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Greater Escambia Community Foundation are four organizations that have been involved with relief funds for the Gulf Coast. Money raised from the bar crawl will be given to these organizations.
“The proceeds from „Crawl for the Coast‟ will provide food, shelter and mental health services to the thousands of distressed individuals and families,” Ager said. The original idea that Ager and Fernandez came up with was to have a bar crawl in all of the SEC school‟s towns to generate friendly competition among students and a way for them to become involved with the relief fund. “We challenge all the SEC schools to do their own bar crawl and show these families we care,” Ager said. All bars downtown will still be open for regular business Thursday night. Those with a $25 bracelet will have access to all bars participating in the “crawl,” food discounts and the grand finale, Big Gigantic, at Bourbon Street from 12 a.m. to 2 a.m.