Patchogue to host Valentine’s Day bar crawl

If you don’t love the idea of being alone on Valentine’s Day, consider following Cupid’s arrow to Patchogue.

The village’s restaurant committee will host its third annual Looking for Love in All the Right Places singles bar crawl in honor of the Hallmark holiday.

On Wednesday, Feb. 14, Main Street in Patchogue will transform into Lovers Lane, inviting the hardhearted and love-struck alike to take advantage of drink and food specials at participating eateries along that stretch of road. The crawl will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Fulton’s Gate Irish Pub and culminate with a singles ball at That Meetball Place.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The event is set up in one-hour time frames with multiple locations in each slot including the Village Idiot Pub, Catch Oyster Bar, Arooga’s, Del Fuego, Hoshi Sushi & Hibachi, BrickHouse Brewery & Restaurant and The Tap Room. For $20, participants can visit some or all stops on the crawl.

“There are so many different venues, we’ll have something for everyone,” says chamber vice president Tiffany Rivera. “We’ll have the loud DJ and crazy party over at That Meetball Place, but it’s going to be much quieter at Catch.”

The crawl was designed this way to win the hearts of more people.

SHOWING LOVE TO THE LOCALS

Most of the restaurants taking part in the crawl are destinations on a regular night in Patchogue but not typically for Valentine’s Day, organizers say. The crawl is a show of love and support to the local businesses as well as to patrons.

“On a night when these restaurants wouldn’t have a lot of people, it really did give them a more full night,” says Rivera, who has been involved in organizing the event since its inception. “So the ones that don’t normally have a big night for this, they are the ones that usually volunteer.”

Each year, the restaurants that take part have become more attached to the celebration.

“They really started investing in this event, having DJs there all night, which normally you wouldn’t do on a Wednesday night,” Rivera says.

HOW THE CRAWL GAINED ITS FOOTING

The singles bar crawl was the brainchild of restaurant committee chair James Bonanno, an owner of The Tap Room craft beer bar in Patchogue.

Organizers at first flirted with the idea of naming the event The Anti-Valentine’s Day bar crawl, but decided to take a softer approach to woo more women.

“We kind of wanted to shy away from the Anti-Valentine’s Day only because the Looking for Love marketing appeals more to women. It’s more romantic,” Rivera says. “You never really know what’s going to happen. We’re kind of appealing to people’s curiosity. Being in the right place at the right time.”

All of the participants in the event — which for the past two years has amounted to just shy of 100 people — will wear identifying pink or red plastic Hawaiian leis that they will receive at check-in. Organizers say the crowd typically attracts 20- to 40-somethings who come as singles, groups of friends and couples.

“I think when you’re part of an identifying bar crawl, it kind of takes the awkwardness out of approaching someone and talking to them in a bar if you know they are a part of the crawl,” Rivera says.

For their part, organizers say they hope participants come to the crawl with an open mind and heart.

“Being single on Valentine’s Day can stink sometimes. I think having something to do with your friends makes it a little bit easier,” Rivera says. “And if they meet someone on that day, that would be great, too.”