Get your caffeine fix through a parade of local coffee shops

By Kira Doman
Contributing Writer

Looking for a warm way to spend a Saturday morning? There’s no need to stay indoors!

The fourth Café Crawl, hosted by Downtown Green Bay, Inc. will take place on Saturday, Jan. 14, from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

This will be the event’s first return since 2019 due to the pandemic.

“This event was ramping up right before COVID, and 2019 was the best year we’d ever had,” said Jeff Tilkens, events manager for Downtown Green Bay. “We’re hoping to bring it back just as strong as we left it!”

There are expected to be between six and eight cafés participating, leaving time for any others to join the event if they desire.

“Right now we have the Daily Buzz, Grounded Café, The Attic, Cultivate Taste, Voyageurs Bakehouse and Glas, but we’re working on adding more to that,” Tilkens said. “They usually jump on board — they see the power of this event, bringing in 1,000 people to their storefront and we ask them to provide a sample of something that makes them unique and present that to the potential new customer base.”

Tickets to participate in the event are $10 and include an event passport in the form of a punch card, samples curated by each café and a trolley to transport participants between the different cafés.

Ticket sales for the event are capped at 1,000 to keep the event manageable for both the trolley driver and for the participating cafés.

“If we sell out we may extend the hours a little bit, but we don’t want the cafés to get too overwhelmed,” Tilkens said. “We feel 1,000 people will spread out pretty well among downtown.”

Those who visit all of the participating cafés and complete their punch card will be eligible to enter to win a prize.

“Each of the cafés is putting in a gift of some sort valued at $25, and as patrons go around punching their cards, they turn the completed card in at the last café they attend,” Tilkens said. “On Monday, we grab all the passports and pick a winner — that winner gets one large basket that holds a culmination of all of the cafes.”

Check-in for the event is at the Bellin Building (130 East Walnut St) on the first floor, in the hallway before the Daily Buzz.

Here, patrons receive their passport from a volunteer with Downtown Green Bay Inc. and will be given details and instructions for trolley travel and the event itself.

Even though there is a fee to participate, Tilkens said Café Crawl will most likely not make a profit — but that’s okay.

“Our organization is based on creating events that bring people downtown, so we don’t look for profits,” said Tilkens. “The $10 just helps us recoup the cost, the cafes will receive a little bit to recoup some of the cost of their samples, as well as the payment for the trolley — we’ll be lucky to break even.”

Tilkens said Downtown Green Bay, Inc. is always thinking up new events to fill the year up with fun activities and awareness for local businesses.

“There’s a lot of people that forget that downtown is thriving right now,” Tilkens said. “There’s a lot of businesses downtown and we’re really excited about that. We just want to get people down here to see what’s new.”

Visit Downtown Green Bay, Inc.’s website to stay updated on any changes to the event, including café additions!