Texas Independence Day: Crawl the Capital on March 2

The word "crawl" might be an indicator of how much fun will be happening Downtown on the 174th anniversary of our formation as a Republic. Shiner's Saloon is sponsoring a great big party featuring five other bars and some of Texas' best liquors, including Dripping Springs Texas Vodka, Paula's Texas Orange, Republic Tequila, and Treaty Oak Rum.

"We were wanting to come up with a way to showcase all of our products at some Texas-friendly locations around town," says Paula Angerstein, owner and spiritmeister of Paula's Texas Orange.

"There will be drink specials at each place, and each brand will have a different drink at each bar," says Theresa Gebhardt of Republic Tequila. (That means 24 different drinks, hence the title crawl.) "If you are interested in meeting the founders of these companies, this will be a great chance. They will all be there."

Ten dollars buys you a bus ticket. Park at Hill's Cafe (4700 S. Congress) at 6pm and start buying specially priced drinks made from Texas liquor. At 7pm, the bus shows up and drives everyone to Shiner's Saloon (422 Congress). At 8pm, everyone walks down to Hudson on Fifth (301 W. Fifth). At 9pm, the crowd will two-step to Beso Cantina (307 W. Fifth). At 10pm, everyone will shuffle to Rebels Honky Tonk (305 W. Fifth). At 11pm, the crowd will stagger to the bus for a ride to Malaia World Lounge (300 E. Sixth), and finally at midnight, they'll crawl onto the bus for a trip back to Hill's Cafe to try to sort out safe transport home.

There's limited space on the bus, and folks who reserve on www.crawlthecapital.com get first dibs. If you don't feel up to quite so much festivity, feel free to show up at any of the locations at the specified time and join the party.