Arts & Culture Bars & Nightlife Family Featured Food, Restaurants & Dining Music & Events Fara Illich November 18, 2009

Thanks to everyone who joined in the revelry during last weekend’s Third Annual Downtown Phoenix Pub Crawl and fourth edition of the Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts.
SkeletonBoth of these events shattered attendance projections and the feedback from attendees was off-the-charts positive. I overheard many Pub Crawlers say “Let’s do this again in the spring!” and one college-aged PAPA-goer stood frozen, jaw agape as the Skeleton Crew passed by: “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.
The Pub Crawl excitement rose to a crescendo Friday evening as walk-up ticket sales were brisk even as the first trolleys were departing on their routes. Loved the stunned looks on the faces of staff members at Seamus McCaffrey’s as the first Crawlers pushed through the doors and rushed the bar. There was even Pub Crawl American Idol! Good times!
Special shout-outs to the Team 5 Crawlers, unanimous choice as Spirit Award winners. As the night went on and the drinks continued to flow, Team 5 developed their own chants and became the party wherever they went. If you ever wanted a textbook lesson on how to properly Pub Crawl, Team 5 are your mentors. Additional thanks to the 150-plus Crawlers who completed the journey and made it to Sonoma Casual Dining for breakfast and post-Crawl stories and laughs. Well done, peeps.
Saturday’s PAPA festival dazzled the senses. From the music–Dry River Yacht Club and Fatigo are worthy of your attention, trust me–to the costumes, arts & crafts, floats and food, it was a galvanizing event that the Downtown Phoenix art community should be proud of. Kids went nuts for the face-painting and puppet shows, and paraders young and old embraced the spirit of PAPA as they marched through the streets of Downtown. If you’ve never attended the PAPA festivities, check out our Flickr photo stream here.
Thanks again to everyone who made these events such an unqualified success and I can’t wait for the Fourth Annual Downtown Phoenix Pub Crawl and fifth Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts in 2010.