Concerns about fights, underage drinking end popular pub crawl at C.B. festival

A popular annual pub crawl in Dominion, N.S., will no longer be part of the community's Seaside Daze Festival and organizers say it's because it comes with too many problems.

Fewer than 2,000 people live in the former coal-mining town in Cape Breton, but every summer, between 600 and 800 people turn out for the pub crawl and visit the area's five drinking establishments.

"There was nothing major, but a lot of the other people would meet beforehand and they're drinking before they come and they're just a little too much under the influence," said Cathy Gillis, head of the Dominion and Area Recreation Society.

Problem with fake IDs

"Some fights had broke out and then there was a couple taken last year underage … and we don't want to encourage that."

Gillis said everyone did their best to follow the liquor regulations.

"They're ID'd when they come to register. The people at the clubs have people at the door ID'ing everybody," Gillis said. "But you have large numbers coming all at once. They have fake IDs."

As executive director of the province's alcohol and gaming division, it's John MacDonald's job to make sure the rules and regulations are enforced.

In Dominion, festival organizers worked with the club owners.

But MacDonald said at many other events, bar owners aren't told a pub crawl is headed their way.

Liability risks too great

MacDonald said when his department hears about a large pub crawl, it warns venue owners about the potential pitfalls.

"It might be people coming to their premises that might be intoxicated, there may be underage coming or there may be more people coming to their venue than would normally be there," MacDonald said.

MacDonald said problems also happen when the pub crawl participants are travelling between clubs. What happens outside of a bar is a matter for the police, he explained.

Gillis said the pub crawl was one of the few events that raised money for the festival, but she's not worried.

"We reached out to some new sponsors this year. The organizations, businesses, the clubs, they're all great in Dominion."

Gillis said the safety concerns and liability risks became too great for the pub crawl to continue.

"It's just something we didn't want to ruin the rest of our festival," Gillis said.