Members of the class of 2016 participated in the biannual PubCrawl this past Sunday, May 1, which served as their final senior activity before graduation.
The senior class took to Main Street at 2 p.m. in groups of 70 where they went to six local bars, which included The Pour House, Kilkenny Pub, Lab N’ Lager, Penuche’s Ale House, Scores Sports Bar and Grille and Cobblestone Ale House. Each team spent approximately 45-50 minutes at each bar before rotating to the next and was allotted one hour for a break to get food and regroup.
Each team is assigned a color before they begin their “crawl” around Keene. Senior and organizer of the purple team, Claire Hickey, said that she thought this semester’s pub-crawl went really well. “I think it went smoother than last semester because most of the team members had already done it,” Hickey said. “Plus, because we now had experience with the whole pub-crawl process, we knew things like how to pace ourselves, when to start heading to the next bar or which bars we did not mind skipping.”
Hickey said that she took on the task of organizing her team last semester, so she decided to do it again for the spring crawl.
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“Last semester we had a team consisting mainly of the same people and there were a handful of people attempting to organize it, but that was all a bit chaotic. It felt easier for me to just take charge and handle everything. I have never minded organizing events, so this was no big deal to me,” Hickey said.
She continued, “The hardest part of the organization process was getting everyone to adhere to what I was asking: getting money in on time, picking up their shirts, etc. It was easier the second time around because I had already been through the process before, but when the people on your team do not meet your deadlines or something, it makes things much harder than they need to be.”
Hickey added that she loves that KSC has a biannual Pub Crawl for the senior class. “I know a lot of other schools have big, elaborate ‘senior weeks’ where they travel around together or have formals,” Hickey said. “Though we are offered smaller events to get together, in my opinion, being in such a small, isolated town limits what the senior class can do as a group. The pub-crawl allows us to be together one last time before we all graduate and go our separate ways.”
Hickey said there has been a lot of reminders about the little amount of time the senior class has left together, so knowing the Pub Crawl was one of the last senior activities they have to all be together made it special.
“We were able to enjoy time together at some of our favorite places in Keene. There were moments throughout the day where myself and others got a bit melancholy because we realized we live far away from one another and we probably wouldn’t be seeing each other as often as we do now. It’s sad having to face that reality, but I’m glad I’ve had times like Pub Crawl to make memories with some truly great people,” Hickey said.
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Senior and member of the yellow team Courtney Capone added, “Knowing that this pub-crawl was going to be one of my last senior activities at KSC was emotional. KSC has given me the greatest memories and lifelong friendships, so it was hard knowing that this was one of our last times all together.”
Capone said that she thinks that Pub Crawl is a great activity that brings the senior class together. Capone said that since everyone’s schedules are so busy toward the end of the semester, this activity is an awesome way to create a time where the senior class can be together and celebrate.
Capone said she liked that each team had a break and that there was an additional bar added to this semester’s crawl. Capone added that she felt that each bar handled and hosted the large groups of seniors very well.
“They were all responsible and patient with us. They also had an organized plan for getting the seniors in and out of the bars in a timely manner. Most of the bars also had good deals on food and drinks, which was nice,” Capone said.
Like Capone, senior and member of the purple team Stephanie Holinko thought that the bars handled each group very well but wished that there were more pub-crawl drink specials.
Although KSC has had issues with the stereotype of being a “party” school in the past, Holinko and Capone said that they think that their teams behaved in a manner that said otherwise.
“I think that the Pub Crawl may add to the stereotype because when locals see large groups of us on Main Street all dressed up in our colors, they probably just assume that we are all drunk,” Holinko said.
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She continued, “Our team was very well behaved and I hope that Keene community members noticed that most students were drinking responsibly, despite the small amount that weren’t.”
Capone added, “I think that it does add to the negative stereotypes, but I don’t think it should. A majority of towns have PubCrawls and it is a way for the seniors to celebrate their accomplishments altogether. As long as the students are respectable to the town, bars and community, I don’t see any problem and don’t think it should add to the negative stereotypes.”
She continued, “I do think my team behaved and handled themselves yesterday. We were all respectable and aware of the Keene community while participating in this event. We were responsible and not disruptive in any way.”
Bartender at the Cobblestone Ale House, Nate Campbell, added, “This year was the smoothest Pub Crawl I’ve ever been a part of in the aspect that every team made it to Cobblestone, and we did not have a single incident throughout the entire event. The teams were lively and fun and only a bit wild. They were also all very respectful to the bar and the employees. It was definitely one for the books and I loved every second.”
Brogan Wessell can be contacted at bwessell@kscequinox.com
