TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa was filled with sombreros, tacos, and margaritas on Sunday, as many were eager to hop their way from tequila shot to tequila shot during the annual Cinco de Mayo bar crawl.
More than a dozen businesses across downtown and South Howard Avenue participated in the crawl.
“We actually did this last year, too, and this year, we decided to do it again, but this time, we invited all our families, so we got all of our families here, going on the bar crawl. Super fun, gorgeous day,” said Kylie Morissiette.
Thomas Neuert has been running these types of events since 2016. He calls his business Downtown Crawlers, complete with a detailed map and drink specials for each location.
“Especially if you are new in town or from out of town, you don’t know where to go,” said Neuert. “With us, we are going to give you the best spots, the best downtown spots, best Ybor spots, where you can connect with different people and make friends while you are having some tacos, some food, and supporting the local community as well.”
For Megan Tiroman, Cinco de Mayo always falls on her birthday, so she put a new twist on the celebration.
“It’s really Cinco de Meggo, Meggo, Cinco De Meggo,” said Tiroman.
A big part of a Cinco de Mayo bar crawl is obviously dressing like you’re on a Cinco de Mayo bar crawl.
“It was the first one to arrive on Amazon. I have two more that will show up today, so I’ll change for tonight,” said Andrew Jordan about his outfit.
Other bar crawlers were more concerned with what was going into their belly rather than what they were wearing.
“Tequila, only Tequila,” said Jon Shahar.
Some of the hard-working servers and bartenders were also getting into the spirit, like Previn Martin of American Social, who went all out painting his face. His family is from Mexico.
“I’m doing a little bit of a sugar candy skull celebrating all Mexican culture and heritage,” said Martin. “I did a little bit of the red and green to represent the Mexican flag just to bring a little bit of that culture back into the skull as well. Instead of doing a bunch of random colors, I wanted to have a little bit of heritage going on.”
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