Alpenopoly Grub Crawl sees participants in it to win it
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ALPENA -- Participants in the annual Alpenopoly Grub Crawl were seen all through Thursday evening with bandanas around them and an appetite for good food.
The Grub Crawl, hosted by the Alpena Chamber of Commerce, went on from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and had participants go around 10 different restaurants and bars in the Alpena area to obtain stickers for a "Monopoly"-style board.
Attendees were given appetizers and drink specials at each location, but needed to finish various challenges to win the stickers. Challenges ranged from solving puzzles at Nowicki's Sausage Shoppe to bouncing table tennis balls into a cup at Austin Brothers Beer Co.
Alisha and Ashley Martin, sisters and ambassadors of the Chamber, said they're new to the area and volunteer around the community. On Thursday night, they helped give the stickers out to participants.
"You play fun games, you have a chance to win fun games and get food samples," Alisha Martin said. "It gets people in the community and gets people out there. Getting to see and meet new people is great."
Once participants got all 10 stickers, they went to the Chamber of Commerce building to turn in their board to enter a raffle for different prizes. Winners were announced on Facebook at 10:30 p.m. and contacted later the next day.
Barb Hall, a part of the management team at Nowicki's Sausage Shoppe, said she's worked during the event for five to six years and thinks it is a great thing for the community.
"It's good for us because people like to go into bars and drink, and we obviously can't sell alcohol," Hall said. "But we do put one of our food items out so people get to sample it. They really get to see what we have here. A lot of people come in and it's very nice."
While many participants have participated in the 11 previous Grub Crawls, some came out for the first time this year.
Gerri and Tony Bujalski had gone to four other restaurants by the time they reached Nowicki's. Gerri Bujalski said for the last couple of years they knew about it, but that "this was the first we've actually had an opportunity to come and join everybody."
"People are friendly and the bars, you know, are more than happy to see everybody coming in," Tony Bujalski said. "We got to do the outside places first and work on the inside. Then we can drink. We aren't able to just yet."