What makes Salem Ma so interesting is the diversity of people and ideas and how they can twist “that’s been done before” into something new here. In keeping with what we said in a recent blog about Salem Main Streets re-branding to being “more people-focused than building-focused” the Wicked Pickah pub crawl fits that bill.
Simply put, it is a pub crawl fundraiser event on May 31st to wipe the streets clean of our roadside rubbish! Alex Lacy, who grew up in Salem (and has a B.S. in Environmental Science) and Garrett Gilbert have merged the sometimes self-indulgent pub crawl with a community waste clean up day to create what sounds like a lively undertaking.
“I’ve had this trash pick-up pub crawl in my head for a long time,” explains Lacy. “Downtown Salem is a great layout for a restaurant-restaurant hop. It could also use a clean sweep. After voicing the idea to close friends who still live in Salem, they helped me plan and organize the Wicked Pickah.”
She points out that “This #cleansalem event is a way for friends to gather and work (but it really feels like play) together to rid our downtown streets of their built up rubbish. We had a rough winter and now that the snow has melted, the evidence of our strife is tangible.”
She continues, “Everyone involved in the planning has been great: creating T-shirt designs, posting videos, helping to pick routes, distributing flyers, and just by being positive about the event and its outcome (please no rain!).”
(Full disclosure: if there are enough participants, Lacy & Gilbert have offered to donate proceeds to support the projects of Salem Main Streets, but it is such an interesting concept that we would be blogging about it anyway.)
Lacy says “Upon arrival at Artists’ Row at 11am, participants will receive sturdy trash bags, fool hardy gloves, and surefire hand sanitizer. Throughout the crawl, bagged dreck will be hauled to the final location of our crawl so that we may marvel at our streets’ new found purity and bask in our new- (and old)- found sense of community.”
The entry cost for the #cleansalem Wicked Pickah is $15 and can be purchased at www.gofundme.com/cleansalem. Those signing up early will receive a finely woven and originally designed T shirt as well as a few drink specials at the bars they will visit along the way.
For updated info on Wicked Pickah go to the Facebook event page or send questions to cleansalem@gmail.com .
Every city & town has roadside rubbish. How you deal with it sets you apart. Wicked Pickah sounds like our style. Let’s #cleansalem together.
