For the past six years, Bardog Tavern has thrown itself an alley party to celebrate its birthday while raising money for St. Jude. This year they are taking it to a whole new level. Sunday, August 30 will be the Monroe Festival with Monroe blocked from midnight to 7 PM. This year Bardog has some new partners for the party: Felicia Suzanne’s and McEwen’s on Monroe. Also back are Eagle Distributing, Breakaway Running, Classic Party Rentals, Fireball, Gossett Motors, Jameson, and Rentrop Geater. The event is a fundraiser for St. Jude that raised over $31,000 last year, and I have no doubt Aldo has plans to top that number. St. Jude has saved thousands from childhood cancer and there is never a bill.
The party gets started with the Breakaway-Bardog 5K at 9 in the morning. The race will be chip-timed and all participants will get a T-shirt and goody bag. Register online, at Breakaway Running, or at Bardog in advance for $30, or join the run the day of for $35.
Following the run is one of the best street festivals of the fall Downtown season. There will be a beer/liquor tasting, and you can get an all-day pass for $25. This is a great deal if you plan on sticking around all day as I usually do. There will be a dunk tank where you can dunk your favorite Bardog servers and regulars. You can win some awesome prizes in a raffle. There will be a contest to see who can eat the most of Aldo’s grandma’s famous meatballs; sign-up is currently going on at Bardog and spots are open.
Server Lauren “LD” Dunn will have her head shaved if $10,000 is raised for St. Jude. Fundraising has already begun and you can drop off donations at the bar or give them to Lauren personally. If you donate $100 or more, you can get your name on the “Baller Board” at Bardog. Two BBQ teams, the Moody Ques and Squeal Street, are represented by members on the baller board. One BBQ team that won a trophy in 2015, the Moody Ques, is represented by a member on the baller board.
Apologies for the lack of posts this week. Back now, all should be good. Expect a Friday Update post sometime tomorrow.