Photo: QueensPost
Oct. 15, 2012 By Bill Parry
A big crowd turned out for the Skillman Avenue pub crawl on Saturday.
The event was the third Oktoberfest held by an array of Skillman Ave. bars and restaurants located between 46th and 51st Street. The participating bars and restaurants included: The Dog and Duck, Claret Wine Bar, Flynn’s Garden Inn, Quaint Bistro, Murphy’s Bar, Cafe Marlene, The Brogue, Aubergine Café and the Copper Kettle.
Justin Costello, a co-owner of Claret, was thrilled that over 300 people participated, doubling last year’s total. The first two Oktoberfests were deemed a great success at the time, but this one was viewed as the best yet.
Padraig Connelly, the owner of The Dog and Duck, said that “it’s over and beyond what we expected.”
Registration for the event took place between 3 pm and 5pm at the Dog and Duck. Attendees were required to donate canned food or give five dollars to a local food pantry in order to receive a wristband. The wristband was good for half price pints of select beers well into the evening.
Connelly said that the Dog and Duck had a very busy afternoon since it was the starting point of the event. Claret Wine Bar was crowded from the start, while at Flynn’s Garden Inn it got so crowded after 5pm that Paul Flynn, the owner, needed a friend’s help behind the bar. “It will only get busier with the Yankees playing tonight,” Flynn said at the time, in between pours.
Hazel Coombes, the owner of The Brogue, was expecting a very big night. “We have this [the pub crawl], and an ongoing art show of Chris Demarecaux’ photography,” she said. “There’s also the Yankees game and we have karaoke as well.”
There was plenty of food on Skillman Avenue. The oyster specials were moving at Murphy’s Bar. The Copper Kettle had a pig roast in the beer garden—and was selling pork sandwiches. The sandwiches were selling so fast that the two 30 pound pigs were devoured in just over an hour.
Aubergine Cafe had a special Oktoberfest menu in the afternoon. “We had a big crowd earlier,” said owner Gary O’Neill, “The brats were really popular.”
“It was good to see some new faces in the restaurant, that’s what it’s all about, right?” said Tim Chen, the owner of Quaint. One new face was Adrian Bordoni, the executive director of Woodside on the Move. “I had never been to [Quaint] before; nice place and a great burger.”
The food donations alone were worth the effort: well over a dozen large boxes full of canned goods.
“We’ll get that over to Father Brian [Dowd] at Queen of Angels on Sunday,” said Costello, from Claret.
Connelly summed up the event best: “A little charity work and a few beers with friends. What a great way to spend a Saturday.”
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18 Comments
I was also at this pub crawl…am I not civilized enough to have friends on this side of the boulevard? Should I also be using a separate bathroom? “Latinos only.”
@Ruben I’m a young Latina women from the south side who has never witnessed nor been part of a pub “brawl.” It’s 2012. Segregation ended a little over forty years ago. Time to get over it and stop lumping us all into one racist category.
5 Foot Gremlin
You must be an Irishman. Only an Irishman has such poetic command of the English language these days.
Southsiders, Northsiders, hear ye, hear ye. I say we have a brawl under the 7 train Braveheart style and whoever’s left standing drinks and eats for free for life in our beloved shire of Sunnyside. May we procreate at will with all of the loosers’ women. All in favor say ‘aye’. Aye!
I’ve been saying for a LOOOONG time that Sunnyside needs an “Alive After 5”
This is when all the restaurants have tables on the street and serve dinner. There’s bands and arts and crafts. Its essentially a block party with local businesses centralizing in one location to sell their products (food) and services (arts and crafts).
Like to event out on Long Island: http://www.patchogue.com/aliveafterfive/vendor_app.htm
Looks like fun.
Next we need a Reefer Crawl.
All this drinking is making me sick!!
Old man Matt is right on! Closed streets, food, beer, chairs, maybe some low key live music. Get to know your neighborhood yuppie, hipster, long time resident, illegal alien-southsiders (same thing?). Get to know each other and let names take the place of labels.
This is a fine message for those latino’s on the South Side , This is what drinking responsibly looks like.
agree with you Z. the nasty comments are uncalled for. i grew up on the other side of the blvd. Had friends on both sides.
I enjoyed the pub crawl, but I think it would be awesome if we could expand it to a sort of street festival. Instead of those street “fairs” that only seem to sell socks and other cheap crap and that in no way benefit local businesses, it would be really cool to close off Skillman between say 46th and 51st, set up tables and chairs, and let everyone sit outside and enjoy their pints. The group of Skillman bars could either come together to provide the beverages and maybe some food as a group, or they could even just have zones for people to move between and get service from the different bars. I could see this growing into a cool Sunnyside tradition that has the potential to attract people from the other boroughs as well.
These are some high resolution pics.
Well said z !
Why are there constantly comments dividing Sunnyside into north vs. south of Queens Blvd, claiming that one is superior? It is just a street. I live below Queens Blvd and certainly wouldn’t call myself and my neighbors “riff raff,” nor do I think the area should be described as such. The holier-than-thou attitude of some people who live above this made-up dividing line does nothing to help the community.
Webley, There are no brawls on the north side. The passive aggressive types there leave that to the riff-raff on the other side of queens blvd.
I mis read it as pub brawl..
It looks like the Skillman Ave pubs are on to a winner with this event.
Good out-of-the-box thinking.
Great pictures and a great afternoon in the neighborhood.