Chicago’s 1st sober bar crawl serves NA cocktails in 3 spots

Chicagoans seeking cocktails and community — minus the hangover — have the chance to do so at the city’s first sober bar crawl Aug. 26, organized by groups Chicago AF and the Sober Black Girls Club.

The event will feature three stops in Humboldt Park, West Town and Andersonville and include alcohol-free drinks as well as opportunities to socialize and support local businesses. Though the booze-free bar hop is free, those interested must still register online.

“Our goal was to keep it as affordable as possible so that there are no barriers to coming out,” said Carrie May, founder of the nonprofit Chicago AF and a certified recovery coach. “Everybody is welcome.”

The first leg of the crawl, a Sober Speed Friending session at Bendeción Bottle Shop, 2540 W. Division St., begins at 3 p.m. and is already at capacity with a waitlist. That portion of the event will include several rounds of quick meet-and-greets, as well as drink samples from Spiritless, a maker of nonalcoholic spirits and cocktails. Attendees can still check in there to receive a wristband and a map of the event.

At 5 p.m., bar crawlers can head to In Good Spirits, 858 N. Ashland Ave., a newly opened sober bar, social club and bottle shop where attendees can sip on booze-free cocktails and meet others who are sober and sober-curious.

The crawl’s last stop begins at 7 p.m. at Eli’s Tea Bar, 5507 N. Clark St., where karaoke is on the menu alongside a variety of tea drinks, lattes and lemonades.

“Everything that we do with regards to Chicago AF is just to help model that you can have fun without alcohol,” May said. “You can connect, you can laugh. It doesn’t matter if you’re sober. It doesn’t matter what you are. We’re just not going to drink for that evening.”

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May said she and Khadi Oluwatoyin, the New York City-based founder and executive director of Sober Black Girls Club, met while both working in the recovery space and had always wanted to collaborate on an event together. When the pair realized they’d never heard of a sober bar crawl before, they set a plan into action.

For May, the event is especially purposeful in that she is looking to make her community more diverse. While she says she sees a range in age — attendees to Chicago AF’s events range from 18-80 — and gender, attendees are mostly white.

“It’s been a major mission of mine for (Chicago AF) to be diverse and inclusive of everybody — all ages, all backgrounds, all everything,” May said.

Her group is beginning to see a more diverse population, but, she said, “I’m not settling until we open up even more.”

Those who are newly sober may be wondering, “What’s the point?” or thinking to themselves, “I can’t do it” when it comes to re-imagining a new social life, but it just takes time, said May, who has been sober for seven years.

“I was one of those people that came into sobriety thinking I would not have fun again,” she said. “That’s a total myth. It just takes practice, everybody’s so awkward. And then when you keep doing it, it just becomes second nature, and it’s OK. We don’t have expectations on people, just show up.”

Linze Rice is a freelance writer.