| Welcome to Chatter Box Freebies. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Canadians aim for biggest pub crawl | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Mar 29 2008, 10:36 AM (31 Views) | |
| SpookyTheCat | Mar 29 2008, 10:36 AM Post #1 |
~Shortstop had me at Hi..~
  ![]](http://209.85.62.24/static/1/pip_r.png)
|
March 29, 2008 Canadians aim for biggest pub crawl By THE CANADIAN PRESS HALIFAX - It's being billing as "Canada's biggest party," but a critic says a bid by a Halifax-based group to set a record for the world's largest pub crawl encourages dangerous binge drinking. Organizers expect about 4,800 revellers in Ottawa, Halifax, St. John's, N.L., and London, Ont., to take part on Saturday night. Pauline Newton, acting president of the London chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said she was stunned when she learned about the event. "I think it's the most irresponsible thing I've every seen," she said in an interview. "As far as I'm concerned, it's a recipe for disaster ... It makes me shudder what could go wrong." The event will encourage heavy drinking and targets young people as various university groups are competing for a bursary based on the level of participation, she said. Newton suggested organizers should be held responsible if any participants are killed or injured as a result of the pub crawl. "We know that when you take young people and a lot of alcohol and the hype of seeing how much they can drink and how many bars they can go to - sooner or later there is going to be a catastrophe." Organizer Jonathan DeYoung, president of High Impact Promotions of Halifax, said it's no secret there will be drinking, but that will not be the focus of the event. He stressed that even though participants are required to visit 10 bars and order one drink at each venue, those drinks don't have to contain alcohol. "There's no binge drinking aspect whatsoever," he said in an interview. "It's a Guinness World Record attempt that takes place in bars and pubs. There's no emphasis on drinking too much." DeYoung said his group will not take steps to limit alcohol consumption - that's up to the participating taverns. "We do due diligence," he said. "We keep everyone as organized as possible. ... We've got food specials at numerous venues so that people aren't consuming alcohol on an empty stomach ... but we can't micro-manage each person." The record for the world's largest pub crawl is currently held by revellers in London, England, where 2,278 participants visited 18 pubs on Oct. 14, 2006. DeYoung said authorities in some provinces made it difficult for him to stage the event in Canada. "Certain regulatory organizations put a lot of effort towards clipping the events wings," the 23-year-old entrepreneur said in a statement. "For example in Ottawa, we had the Liquor and Gaming Commission going to each venue that was participating with a couple police officers and 'educating' the venues on liquor laws and repercussions for infractions." DeYoung said the measures amounted to intimidation, noting that some bars backed out of the event. A similar event was held last year in Halifax, where thousands of people in 19 groups endured bitterly cold weather as they sprinted between 26 bars. But the group failed to set a record because of registration problems, DeYoung said. Halifax Regional Police beefed up its presence downtown, but there were no major incidents. - On the Net: http://www.WorldsLargestPubCrawl.com |
 |
 
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Chatter Box · Next Topic » |
7:29 AM Nov 25
