Santa Pub Crawl returns to downtown Bangor, benefits local Boys & Girls Club

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Bangor. On Friday, Santa Claus - or a few - is coming to town!

Going from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., you can sip and snack on some seasonal specials in downtown Bangor, all while supporting a local organization.

This is thanks to the third Santa Pub Crawl, put on by local tapas and martini bar Happy Endings.

“People have a lot of fun with it. They dress up in ugly sweaters and Santa costumes and all sorts of holiday gear,” explains Happy Endings owner Melissa Smith. “It’s just a good way around the holidays that we can all get together as downtown businesses to kind of give back and help out.”

At the 11 participating downtown restaurants and bars, you can purchase a $10 wristband and try the different food and drink specials they have to offer.

All this food and drink will go down smoothly knowing your sips translate to direct support.

This year, wristband proceeds and a portion of restaurants’ specials will benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Bangor.

One local spot on the list is Benjamin’s Restaurant & Pub, located on Franklin St.

“It’s fun to see all the costumes that people do wear,” co-owner Nikole Dobbins comments. “The ugly sweaters, that’s always a plus, and I think everyone just this time of the year is just really happy to be around everyone else.”

As part of the crawl, Benjamin’s will be offering $1 hot chocolate and chili alongside seasonal cocktails. They say 50% of these proceeds will be donated to the local Boys & Girls Club.

After establishing themselves in the city 11 years ago, officials say about 150 kids visit the Boys & Girls Club of Bangor everyday.

“We offer a variety of programs, including after-school programming, summer programs. We do stuff for some pre-kindergarteners as well as high schoolers,” explains Boys & Girls Club Director of Marketing and Development Grace Himel.

Boys & Girls Club of Bangor CEO Cat Myatt says the organization is honored to be the recipient: “It’s a great example of a community giving back to its kids. And we intend to use the money that is raised to help support our holiday toy drive, where we make sure that every child that’s served by the Boys and Girls Club receives a gift this holiday season.”

“A lot of our community members, our Boys & Girls Club families, this is supposed to be such a joyous, fun season for them, and it turns out to be really stressful for quite a lot of them,” Himel explains. “So, we will do absolutely anything to relieve them of that stress.”

Even if you don’t dust off your snow boots, sleighs and Santa hats for the pub crawl Friday, you can still donate to the Toy Drive.

For more information, visit the Boys & Girls Club of Bangor’s website.