ST. ‘PRACTICE’ DAY
Kilt Crawl gets Troy ready for St. Patrick’s Day
TROY, N.Y. » The first ever St. “Practice” Day Kilt Crawl took place Saturday at various locations in the downtown Troy.
The Collar City Kilt Fest didn’t happen this year, but Katie Hammond — executive director of Downtown Troy Business Improvement District — partnered with the Troy Craft Beer Committee to create a 16-stop bar crawl beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday — a week before St. Patrick’s Day — with the first tapping at the recently opened Franklin Alley Social Club.
“It’s exciting to be apart of it. We try to be apart of anything that is Troy, to be the first stop is really cool,” said co- owner Frank Sicari. “It’s a nice highlight for us, being so new.”
At Franklin Alley Social Club, participants enjoyed arcade games, shuffle board and board games.
“We try to have a little something for everybody, and stuff to do instead of just stand around and drink,” said Sicari. “It’s entertainment with the bar included.”
Even though the Kilt Crawl and Race didn’t happen this year, the crawl taking place was a nobrainer, Hammond said.
“We enjoy having the community really come out and have fun in downtown Troy,” said Hammond. “It’s a big thing for all of our bars and restaurants, and they appreciate the extra push at this time of year as well.”
Participants received a crawl passport, with eli-
gibility to win prizes upon completion of a visit to at least five participating businesses, but there was no specific order as Brown’s Brewing Company, Bootlegger’s on Broadway, Dinosaur BBQ Troy, Elixir 16, Muddaddy Flats, O’Brien’s Public House, Rare Form Brewing Company, Slidin’ Dirty Troy, The Bradley, The Ruck, Uncle Sam Lanes, Wolff’s Biergarten, River Street Pub, Shmaltz Brewing Company and Ry- an’s Wake hosted throughout the day and night.
The Kilt Crawl asked participants to donate $5, which goes towards BID’s Raise. Plant. Grow. initiative, which aims to plant a total of 150 trees in downtown.
Sicari said the event was a great idea.
“A lot of people on the Troy BID came up with the idea to practice for St. Pat- rick’s Day, get people out for a good cause and raise money to plan trees,” said Sicari. “We were glad to be part of it.”