The Bricktown Association Talks About Crawl for Cancer
The following was posted on the Bricktown Association blog by director Jim Cowan. I have his permission to do a full reprint as follows (I will gladly do the same for Crawl for Cancer – if they agree to talk to me and share their financial information):
The Pub Crawl for Cancer has been held in Bricktown for several years, each year growing in popularity. This year’s event was not coordinated through the Bricktown Association or the Bricktown Police. Many of the participants were well behaved, enjoyed the event and acted responsibly.
However, others quickly become intoxicated and infringed upon the enjoyment of others in Bricktown that day. The event charges one price and allows the participants all the beer they can drink. It’s the equivalent of a “drown night,” but takes place on a Saturday during the day, when families are the primary demographic in our district. At our recent monthly Bricktown Association meeting, we discussed this event and the concern it brought many of our merchants and the police. Even though it is a profitable event for those merchants that participate, we weren’t comfortable with the behavior exhibited by some of the Pub Crawl participants and the negative experience it created for other Bricktown visitors and merchants. A unanimous vote was taken for merchants not to participate in the event next year.
Bricktown is a popular destination for many charitable events ¬¬¬- Race for the Cure, Limbs for Life, The Autism Walk, The Heart Walk, and many more. Bricktown restaurants and entertainment venues willfully contribute gift certificates, tickets, and other donations for silent auctions and charities. Many of the restaurants even host fundraisers and school auctions. Being involved in the Oklahoma City community is not only something we enjoy, but also it’s part of our responsibility to the tax payers who built the canal and the ballpark.
The Bricktown Association works with all the merchants and property owners to promote the district to over 6 million annual visitors. Large crowds from sporting events, conventions, concerts and other special events have become commonplace in the district. A very diverse crowd enjoys Bricktown on a regular basis and the association strives to make the district as enjoyable as possible to everyone who patronizes Bricktown. It’s almost impossible to please all the people all the time, but we sure try.
To provide an environment where so many can enjoy the amenities that Bricktown offers, requires a lot of coordination and communication. The City of Oklahoma City has made a tremendous commitment by locating a police substation in the district. We believe that our community must work in harmony with law enforcement to ensure safety and security are always the top priority.
When events like St. Patrick’s Day, New Year’s Eve, Fourth of July, and others are planned in Bricktown, many hours of work “behind the scenes” are spent on numerous details to ensure that everyone can enjoy the event. Countless meetings take place to anticipate issues that may arise, especially when alcohol is involved. Systems are put in place to deal with anyone who over indulges, security is hired, and close communication with the police is facilitated.
We will continue to strive for a fun, friendly and welcoming atmosphere for our many visitors, and we are very excited for the future of not just Bricktown, but also all of Oklahoma City as MAPS 3 and Project 180 make improvements all over the downtown area.
Bricktown will also continue to participate in charitable events that raise money for worthy causes, including cancer. This is a very personal cause to me, as my wife is a cancer survivor. However, it is very important to the Bricktown Association and merchants to make sure we are dealing with credible organizations that host responsible events of which our community can be proud.
- Jim Cowan
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Comments
Shannon, this shows why it’s so important that instead of refusing to talk to me that Crawl for Cancer should be embracing the opportunity to tell their story.
My mistake on the correct term for the process for beer.
Some more coments at our website – http://www.welcometobricktown.com/node/939
I know of a lot of crawls..and they’re a lot more popular in older, more Northern cities. I’ve heard of some crawls here in OKC like the Lost Ogle’s one, but I’ve not heard of a Bricktown Crawl for Cancer.
Three points stick out for me:
1. This doesn’t not seem like a major event. Maybe it’s being blown out of proportion.
2. Seems like this could all be resolved by moving it to a later at night time. It would probably get a lot more participants then, too.
3. Isn’t this exactly the kind of thing that Bricktown NEEDS? Oh no, of course not, we want a “family friendly urban destination” and NO PUBLIC DRINKING!!! (my eyes just rolled out of their sockets)
Steve,
Completely of topic, but I was checking the Devon tower cam when I noticed the massive amount of earthwork being done in the Myriad Gardens. Have you covered the plan for the garden? Is there anywhere I can get a sense of the reformation? Also, we went to see the Pei model, and am really looking forward to the mapping of said model, and possibly including a pamphlet of lost buildings. Thanx so much for helping average smoos keep abreast of the goings on. Aside from our Pei visit, some volunteer was showing a couple of other guys the Maps three model and told me the convention center location was set in stone. I hope he is misinformed..
Nick, I think it’s a decent story because you’ve got a national company behind all these daytime drinking sprees and though they say it’s all for charity, without Crawl for Cancer opening up about their finances, there appears to be up to $40,000 or more per event that isn’t accounted for. Add that up nationwide and you could have a very large for profit enterprise hiding under the guise of charity.
Now, am I saying that’s happening? I don’t know. But others are, and not just folks here in OKC. I just happen to be the first reporter who taking on Crawl for Cancer and demanding they provide an accounting of the money they’re raising.
Clearly, they don’t like that.
Ask anyone who has known me for long and they can testify that anytime someone refuses to talk to me or tries to shut down a story on me, that just gets me more curious and more intent on getting the story.
I’m odd that way.
As for your other comments …
The issue for most of the folks I’ve to in Bricktown, the issue here isn’t so much the idea of a pub crawl but rather that it’s being done on a Saturday afternoon around families and that some of these folks reportedly are behaving very badly.
Just wait until next week’s stories…
Now here’s an interesting captcha: “reporters sames”
Unfortunately this seems all too common among supposedly charitable causes (very little of the money ends up going to the charity). Most depend on statements like this one when they say that all proceeds go to _________ charity. Not realizing that it means if any money is left over after the businesses are paid, administrative over head (which can be quite large) etc etc, the charity will get something. My suggestion if a particular charity is important to you, give directly to that charity and cut out the middleman. The dollars you contribute will go a lot farther. Even when directly dealing with a charity, should ask what there over head etc is too.
Nick: dead on with #3! Often wondered how people reconciled “family friendly” with the abundance of bars and clubs (which require you to be 21+)
Shannon: 2 pitchers times 5 bars = 10 pitchers of beer…sounds pretty close to all-you-can-drink. Now the only thing that is unclear, is if that 2 pitchers is per person or for the 10 member team which would bring it down quite a bit.
What’s not being blown out of proportion is that if you do the math from the story the crawl raised $72,000 but, at least last year, only $10,000 was paid out to local charities. Something is not right here so I’m glad you’re staying on it, Steve.
By all means Nick and Larry, lets make Bricktown “Family Hostile” and see how long the district lasts. 
Redhawks baseball is marketed as family entertainment, yet alcohol is sold during the game. The Redhawks have policies and procedures in place to help ensure that everyone can have a good time. You can’t allow a group into the district to do a fundraiser that’s basically going to crap on everyone else like they own the place. The crawl needs to crawl back under the rock they came from.
Nick, this isn’t the same as bar patrons at night. This is BINGE DRINKING (on dumb frat party levels) during the DAY in Bricktown. All the while claiming to be helping a charity when it’s really just an excuse to get drunk and be an ass. I work at one of the hotels that had CforC discount rooms, so I have seen it first hand.
Larry, it was two pitchers per team at each bar. Basically that is one pitcher per person for the afternoon. That is a long, long way from unlimited.
I’m not getting into the right or wrong of the event. Just saying that it was not unlimited booze.
Shannon, your numbers may be incorrect. From the Crawl for Cancer website (www.crawlforcancer.org):
“Teams will travel to five Bricktown bars. At each bar, teams will be given four tickets valid for four pitchers of beer. Everyone is invited back to the after-parties at America’s Pub, Wormy Dog and Drinz for live music, beer and more fun. Teams should have ten to twelve people. If you have MORE THAN 10 PEOPLE ON YOUR TEAM, you will need to include an extra $30 for each person.
You are right Steve, it was 4 per team. Either way, just making the point it was not unlimited. Not that is matters in the current arguement.
Small error on Mr. Cowan’s part but an error. The event was not all the beer you could drink for one price. You were given two pitchers at each establishment for your fee, not unlimited.