The Absalom, Absalom Pub Crawl

I’m in the process of planning our next pub crawl, a pub crawl for a book that ranks number one on my Top Five Books of All Time:  Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner.  Since we are about to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Uncle Bill’s death (no, he’s not really my uncle, but like Uncle Walt Whitman, I claim him), I thought it would be a nice way to remember the GREATEST WRITER OF ALL TIME, and force my favorite book on our participants.

This will be our sixth pub crawl.  So far we’ve hosted the Milton 400/Paradise Lost Pub Crawl, the Portable Pub Crawl for Hemingway’s Moveable Feast, the Bloomsday Pub Crawl for Joyce’s Ulyssess, the Pilgrimage Pub Crawl for Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and the Whitman’sSampler Pub Crawl for Leaves of Grass.  They have been very successful, especially considering the size of our city (Gadsden’s population is about fifty thousand).

I essentially stole the pub crawl idea from my adopted home of six years, Denver, CO.  See, way back in 2004 or 2005, I helped out with one leg of an all-day Bloomsday Pub Crawl that took place throughout the city.   It was a HUGE pub crawl, one that started in the morning, and didn’t end until late in the evening.  Bookstores, street corners, watering holes were all on the pub crawl route.  Professors, businessmen, then-mayor John Hickenlooper, and average Joes were involved as readers.  It was a fabulous pub crawl, one that inspired me to create my own pub crawl on a much smaller scale, in a much smaller town.

So, I am now in the process of rereading Absalom, Absalom for the umpteenth time in preparation for the June crawl.  I will be reviving Dean Faulkner Wells’ Faux Faulkner Contest for the evening.  Winner gets a rusty hand scythe!  You Absalom fans out there will get that joke…

For anyone who is interested, here is my PSA:

Absalom, Absalom Pub Crawl to honor William Faulkner!

When:  June 27, 5:45PM

Where:  Assorted Pubs On Broad Street

Join the Gadsden Public Library, Downtown Gadsden, Incorporated (DGI), and our sauntering scholar Dave Murdock as they hoist a glass to remember William Faulkner on (near) the 50th anniversary of his death.

Enter our Faux Faulkner Writing Contest to win a rusty hand scythe!  Only pre-registered pub crawl participants may enter!  Only one winner!  Judging takes place at the end of the evening!

5:45PM-Pitman Theatre-Meet & Greet Reception.

6PM-Pitman Theatre

7PM-Downtown Tavern

8PM-Blackstone Pub & Eatery

How to participate:

Pre-register for Pub Crawl by calling 256.549.4699, ext. 107.  Purchase or check out a copy of Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom.  Read book.  Dine & drink while reading & discussing Faulkner throughout the evening in three of Gadsden’s finest downtown establishments!

Seats are limited to 25, pre-registration is required.

Each individual is responsible for his/her own bar tab at the Downtown Tavern & at Blackstone Pub & Eatery. 

This is a GPL & DGI Production.  For additional information and pre-registration, please call Carol @ 256.549.4699, ext. 107, or email at carol@gadsdenlibrary.org.