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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter
For most parents, September is a very busy month. As the kids settle back into school, fall activities start back up and families are forced to readjust their schedules. Consequently, this usually means parents’ social lives are temporarily put on pause while they adapt to the new changes that fall brings. Luckily, though, Walpole resident Dave Bent has led a pub-crawl through town to give parents a break from the hectic schedules that come with the back-to-school season.
Five years ago, the pub-crawl began as a way for parents at Elm Street School to get together outside of official school functions. It has since grown to include any and all of Walpole’s residents, and Bent guesses over 150 people participated in the crawl. “It seems that everyone I know in town is here,” said Jonathan Naumowicz, a Walpole parent and pub-crawl participant.
By the end of the evening, the pub-crawl attracted over 150 Walpole residents and raised almost 14 hundred dollars for the Friends of Walpole Elders.
On September 23, the group hopped between four of Main Street’s most beloved restaurants, beginning at one of Walpole center’s cozy Irish pubs for dinner and drinks, and moving on the locally-owned Mexican restaurant for one their esteemed margaritas. The pub-crawlers would later head further down Main Street to the sports bar and restaurant before finishing the night with beer and billiards at another one of Walpole’s Irish pubs. “It’s a good way to meet new people in town and to meet other parents,” added Naumowicz’s wife, Marcie.
At their last stop, Bent asked the participants to consider donating to the Friends of Walpole Elders to raise funds for the new and desperately needed Council on Aging for Walpole’s seniors. While the Friends have a GoFundMe page set up for donations, it has not been overwhelmingly successful.
“In one night, we raised more than the page has in [six] months [because] no one is really aware,” says Bent. The donations from the pub-crawl participants totaled almost $1400, which will go towards the Friends’ goal of raising one million dollars.
Restaurants of downtown Walpole welcome the fifth annual pub-crawl participants, led by Dave Bent. Photo by Laura Drinan
Bent’s annual pub-crawl allows parents to enjoy a night on the town and to socialize with other adults in Walpole. The evening guarantees a good time each year, and with the wellbeing of Walpole’s seniors in mind, the fifth annual Walpole pub-crawl surely delivered.
Donations are still welcomed in any denomination on the GoFundMe page, which can be found at the bottom of the webpage at www.friendsofwalpoleelders.org.
