Posts Tagged ‘Lucky Strike’

Mardi Gras Returns

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

Phoenix has never had a reputation as a Mardi Gras destination but the Downtown Ambassadors are out to change that.

Mardigras-AZC-300x250Last year, the helpful folks in orange recruited friends and residents to build floats and walk in a Mardi Gras parade.

Community response was overwhelming.

Not only did a Mardi Gras parade take shape, but Downtown businesses bought in and before the Ambassadors knew it, they’d launched a full-fledged festival. CityScape came on board as host and bars joined the Mardi Crawl nightlife tour.

When event night came, the Ambassadors were hoping to attract 300 people. Over 2,000 showed up, many dressed to impress in Mardi Gras masks and costumes.

Mardi GrasThis year the Ambassadors are working hard to make the Mardi Gras Parade, Festival, and Pub Crawl, which goes down 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18, even better. CityScape has returned as host, bands like Bad Cactus Brass Band, Rhythm Is Life Steel Band, John Henry’s Revenge, DJ Shock, and The Hey Boyz are providing live entertainment, while food trucks like Mama Toledo’s and Jamburrito Cajun Grille have promised to keep the crowd fed. In addition, Copper Blues Live will be running a beer garden on the plaza, and a variety of vendors will be on hand selling their Mardi Gras goods.

The Festival starts at 4 p.m., with the parade weaving through Downtown starting at 5:30. Pub Crawl ($8 in advance, $10 day of) trolleys depart from Central and Jefferson at 9 p.m.

Interested in being a vendor or marching in the parade? Contact Sam Jackson at 602.744.6415.

All the information you’ll ever need about Downtown Mardi Gras is available here and here.

See you on the 18th!

Downtown Pub Crawl Saturday

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

We’re just four days from the greatest night you’ll never remember.

4thPubCrawlWEBThe Fifth Annual Downtown Phoenix Pub Crawl happens this Saturday, Oct. 22, from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.

For $12 online or $15 day-of, Crawlers can partake in drink deals at an unprecedented 20 bars, trolley service, beads, a post-Crawl breakfast/dance party at Steve’s Greenhouse Grill, plus cab and hotel discounts.

Because we don’t want our favorite people to miss out on any of the Pub Crawl shenanigans, we’re sweetening the deal by giving online purchasers an extra $2 off when they enter the promo code FB2.

(For math majors, that knocks the price down to an even $10.)

BREAKING PUB CRAWL NEWS: Should you complete your Pub Crawl mission and make it all the way to Steve’s Greenhouse Grill for breakfast and dancing, we’ll have some sweet giveaways waiting, including concert tickets, Flogging Molly pint glasses, CDs, DVDs, and jars of our homemade country mustard! HUGE thanks to our sponsor X103.9 FM!

You’ll find a complete list if bars, deals, official Pub Crawl map, cab and hotel deal information, and much more at our  Pub Crawl home page.

See you Saturday!

** Tickets purchased online can be picked up beginning at 10 a.m. at the Downtown Ambassador Information Center (101 N. 1st Ave.)

CityScape Update

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

When folks learn that I work for Downtown Phoenix one of three questions follows without exception:

1) What’s with the glowing uterus in Civic Space Park? *

2) Can you get me free tickets to [fill in the blank]? **

3) When does CityScape open?

Let’s address that third question now.

08 0817 office night view overall with signageWEBIn case the aggressive construction has eluded you, CityScape is a pretty big deal, both in size and its significance to Downtown. The mixed-use complex covers two lineal blocks in the heart of Downtown Phoenix and combines residential, office, retail, entertainment and public space with the total area of over 1,000,000 square feet.

As for when CityScape “opens,” the updated schedule is looking like this:

APRIL: Firms will soon be moving into the office tower at Central Avenue and Washington. Also, the construction team will complete an 80-foot long elevated pedestrian bridge crossing above Central and connecting to the new Patriots Square Park and CityScape’s retail by month’s end.

MAY: Gold’s Gym to open.

JUNE: Landscaping of Patriots Square Park to be completed.

JULY: Opening of hipster-friendly Urban Outfitters and Lucky Strike Bowling, plus Designer District, CVS pharmacy, Republic of Couture and Press Coffee.

SEPTEMBER: Oakville Grocery to open.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER: Chef Aaron May to open a noodle bar and small Taqueria, La Grande Orange owners to open Public House, plus The Breakfast Club and a Sam Fox chop house to make debuts.

2011: BluBurger Grille and Cherry on Top yogurt to open.

Late 2011: 240-room Palomar hotel to open.

 Other answers:

*  ”Her Secret Is Patience” is public art and I happen to like ”her” very much, especially when lit up at night.

** I can’t get you seats to Lady GaGa, but if you become a Fan of Downtown Phoenix on Facebook your chances at winning cool stuff goes up exponentially