Following Red and White night, the class of 2017 crawled their way through the rain in downtown Keene on Sunday, Nov. 20.
Senior psychology major Kelsey Perrault organized the event known as Pub Crawl for the senior class, along with seniors Dave Dunham and Amanda Makar.
Perrault said that Pub Crawl is an event held twice a year, once in the fall followed by another in the spring. Seven teams participate and attend the five bars in downtown Keene. The bars include Penuche’s Ale House, Kilkenny Pub, Cobblestone Ale House, Lab n’ Lager Food & Spirits and Scores Sports Bar and Grill. Some of the bars set up games for the teams’ entertainment.
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Perrault continued by explaining that Pub Crawl began at noon and went until 7 p.m. Two hours of that time was used as a break for the teams while on a rotation, so only one team was at each bar at one time. Each team consisted of 70 individuals.
Several steps were taken by the three seniors organizing the event to successfully pull it off.
Perrault said, “Pub Crawl cannot be associated with the school, so we chose to make a Facebook group with the senior class, which was the first step in our planning process. We left the Facebook group open to the public so everyone could be added in by their friends. After we got the approval from the police and the bars, we posted the details in the Facebook group. We also contacted the police station looking for two cops just in case anything got out of hand.”
Perrault, Dunham and Makar recommended one person from each team to be the captain. Once the teams were put together the captains were able to post in the Facebook group and organize their teams.
Perrault said, “To be honest, making the teams was the hardest part because only a certain amount of students can partake in this event. We wanted everyone to be able to participate so we added one more extra team than we originally planned.”
The money collected from team members covered their t-shirt, police presence and a donation to support For the Love of Edie.
According to the For the Love of Edie website, the non-profit organization “aims to raise awareness regarding certain social justice issues, beginning with mental health and the dangers it poses if undetected or untreated.”
There was a leftover $1,000 and it will be donated to another foundation decided by the senior class at a later date.
Senior health science major Emmy Roddy was the captain of the yellow team. Roddy said being a team captain included organizing team members, collecting money, getting t-shirt sizes, distributing t-shirts and leading her team during the event.
Roddy said the event “helps people get closer. Usually when people go out, it’s with a few friends and it’s cliquey, but at Pub Crawl everyone is so open to meeting new people.”
Perrault said Pub Crawl is about the class all coming together and having fun in the downtown area. “It’s not every day that you get to go out, drink and have fun with your best friends for the whole day,” Perrault said.
Some look at Pub Crawl and associate it only with drinking, but the senior class took a positive twist on it this year.
Senior and double major in communication studies and multimedia journalism Samantha Pineau proposed the idea of a canned food drive with Thanksgiving being right around the corner.
Pineau was a part of the yellow team during Pub Crawl and organized the canned food drive within the event.
“It was a last minute idea to do a food drive. We tried to rally as many people as possible to donate at least two cans. Unfortunately, not all the teams participated. The final count included the blue team donated 50 cans, the yellow team donated 46 cans and the purple team donated 46 cans. I really want the food drive to become a Pub Crawl tradition and I hope to get every team involved with it in the Spring,” Pineau said.
The donated cans went to the Keene Community Kitchen the day after Pub Crawl.
Pineau said the event went very smoothly and the transition for everyone worked well. She also added after the event, “I don’t want to graduate.”
Roddy wanted to thank everyone who safely participated in Pub Crawl. “Also, thank you to those who organized the event, the bars for allowing us to keep this event going and for the active police presence on Main Street,” Roddy said.
Everyone that Perrault spoke to told her it was one of the best days they ever had. “I’m really happy and proud to be a senior at Keene State College. Our class is one of a kind and so close. It’s awesome to see everyone having a good time, enjoying each other’s company and just having fun with one another,” Perrault said.
Emma Hamilton can be contacted at ehamilton@kscequinox.com
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