Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Why You Don't See Bar Crawls on H Street

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Enjoying yourself on H Street is fine. Organized bar crawls are not.

Barred in DC has an interesting three part feature on H Street's (& Adams Morgan's) prohibition on bar crawls on the strip.

Want to Have a Bar Crawl in DC? Don’t Do It in H Street and Adams Morgan
1. Limits/history of the prohibition.
2. Justification for the prohibition & a case study of a violation.
3. A bar fights the ABRA penalty, & loses.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was inclined to see this as a nanny state issue but the linked articles are very informative and I'll have to reconsider. There may be some very good reasons for these events to be tightly regulated. Thanks for posting.

DCExplorer said...

Hey Frozen- I've actually been interested in chatting on this topic. I've founded and held an annual Arrested Development Never Nude Parade (or crawl, take your pick) every Spring on H Street since 2012. This year, I'd like to open it up to a larger group, include bars in support, and have them donate a portion of their revenue to a local non-profit or charity. How is the Annual DC Krampusnacht, and others like it, able to host such things? Aren't they essentially a pub crawl?

inked said...

DCExplorer,
The Krampusnacht folks charged for a performance at the beginning of the night (that went to charity). I believe anyone could participate in the parade. They did suggest that participants adjourn to a single bar after, but no drink specials were offered. So I don't believe it qualified as a bar crawl.

Lauren said...

Back in 2012 Krampusnacht operated a bit more like a pub crawl. There was no pre-performance, and there was a list of bars to be visited in order. However, I don't believe there were any specials, and no one had to pay anything to participate. I was wondering why it changed - I assumed it was because it was so much larger, but maybe the organizers (or the bars) felt that having an itenerary of bars made the event too close to a bar crawl.

inked said...

Lauren,
I would want to read the ABRA text myself, but it doesn't sound like anything from the first time around would run afoul of the settlement agreements. I think you might have been right in assuming it was due to the increased size of the event. Plus, Krampusnacht (December 5th) fell on a Thursday last year. Who wants to go to multiple bars on a Thursday?