Floyd County transit system provides safe bar crawl

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

Charles City residents went from bar to bar with help a team of buses Saturday night.

The day after St. Patrick’s Day and after the Charles City St. Patrick’s Day parade residents went from bar to bar aided by the Floyd County transit system.

Pub on the Cedar, Comet Bowl, Hots Shots, City Tap and DeRailed all participated in the St Patrick’s Day bar crawl.

Throughout the night two buses ran from bar to bar to make sure people were able to get to where they wanted to go without getting hurt or arrested.

The buses ran from bar to bar every thirty minutes.

“We’re going to be here to midnight,” Mark Helmers, pub crawl shuttle driver said.

Crawlers are allowed to bring their drinks on the bus as it’s running from bar to bar, Helmers said.

The shuttlers rolled out at 6 p.m.

Helmers works as a bus driver as part of the Floyd County transit, transporting people to Mason City from Floyd County, he said.

The pub crawler’s association helped put on the night’s festivities.

The crawl increases business for all of the bars that it goes through.

“You can tell its a lot busier,” Levi Klinkel, Pub on the Cedar general manager said. “You can tell when another shuttle pulls-up because its another group of 10 or 20 people.”

Pub on the Cedar

The crawl started at the Pub on the Cedar immediately following the parade, with those marching in the parade simply continuing to march into the pub.

“We have the bag pipers come in and the whole restaurant goes quiet,” Klinkel said. “We get shoulder to shoulder people in here right after the parade, because we’re right at the end of it.”

The pub is a good spot to start the crawl because it’s where the parade stops, Klinkel said.

“We serve a lot of Bloody Marys on Sunday,” Klinkel said.

City Tap

City Tap and several other bars have participated in the crawl for the past three years.

Heidi Huxsol, owner and operator of City Tap, expected a lot of people to be coming in, and had a dance contest prepared.

“We’ll be packed,” Huxsol said.

City Tap was also where most of the parade marchers gathered prior to heading out on Main Street.

DeRailed

DeRailed has been part of the pub crawl since they started being DeRailed, Matt DeVost owner and operator said.

“We definitely have a great night,” DeVost said. “Everybody wants to be Irish it seems like.”

During the pub crawl DeRailed had PV and the Phantoms playing, though the Phantoms were interrupted briefly when the Drouthy Ducks came in and began playing after coming from City Tap.

Instead of green beer, DeRailed offered a new concoction created for the crawl called Leprechaun River, a green citrus tasting drink that was sold for $2 a shot and $3 for a cup.

“A mad scientist kind of put together putting in a little bit of this and little bit of that,” DeVost said. “Kind of green sangria.”

Hot Shots

Hot Shots, like several other bars, has participated in the pub crawl for three years.

Joe Hull, the owner and operator of Hot Shots, was looking forward to everyone coming out and the wild fun.

“It’ll be busy all night realistically,” Hull said. “They all get to get on a bus so they don’t have to worry about driving.”