When the Alpena Mixed Beach Volleyball League started out a dozen years ago, much of the support it received came from local bars and pubs.

Twelve years later, the pubs are still very supportive of the league and they’ve partnered together to host the 2nd Annual Bike and Band Crawl fundraiser on Saturday.

Participants will begin at Latitudes Tavern at noon and ride their bikes to four other local bars and pubs within the Alpena Downtown Development Authority, each of which will have a local musician or group playing. All proceeds will go to the Mich-e-ke-wis Beach Volleyball Court Restoration & Maintenance Fund.

The courts are maintained through private runs and the event is the league’s main fundraiser for the year. A great deal of work has already been done to the courts, but the fundraiser helps defray some of the costs for work done to maintain them.

“The volleyball league started as a bar league with pubs and bars supporting volleyball. Over the years, we’ve gotten all kinds of sponsors, but the core is still the pubs,” League Commissioner Jon Broers said. “We always have music (around the courts), so the fundraiser was conceived to involve them.”

Participating locations (in order with musical guest) include: Latitudes with a surprise musical guest; Sports Page with Steven Rea; The Black Sheep with Kyle Fisher, The Fresh Palate with Charlie and the Bourbons and Chief’s with Bobbing for Piranhas.

There will also be a Chinese auction with items up for sale and participants are encouraged to ride from location to location on their bikes.

Those wishing to participate can buy tickets in advance for $15 at any of the participating bars or pubs or at Jimmie Garant’s Party Store. Tickets purchased on the day of event are $20. The ticket includes dinner at The Fresh Palate, five drink tickets at each of the participating locations and admission to the Chief’s block party which begins at 8 p.m. and is the final stop on the crawl.

The event which raised $2,500 last year is expected to have more than 100 participants, up from more than 50 who took part last year and is open to the public.

“It’s a great way to meet people, to get introduced to new musicians and meet some of our volleyball players,” Broers said.

James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.