Brooklyn, Harlem 'Kwanzaa Crawl' Postponed Amid COVID Surge
NEW YORK, NY — A 'Kwanzaa Crawl' that would have brought thousands of New Yorkers to the city's Black-owned bars and restaurants is the latest event to be postponed given a surge in coronavirus cases driven by the omicron variant.
Organizers announced Tuesday that the sold-out bar crawl, which is held across Harlem and Brooklyn, will be postponed until next spring or summer given the omicron wave.
"One thing we don’t play about is our love for the Black community, and we want everyone to be safe," they wrote on the Kwanzaa Crawl website. "Covid rates are higher than Snoop smoking a blunt in a hot air balloon, and we want no parts of Omarion or his mutating boy band counterparts."
The 2021 event, slated to take place this Sunday, would have been the first time the Kwanzaa Crawl was held since before the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2019, more than 5,000 "crawlers" participated and spent more than $500,000 at the Black-owned bars and restaurants, according to organizers. The event had sold out its 5,000 tickets for 2021 as well.
Those who bought tickets will be able to use them for the new date, once it is announced.
"If you’re unable to make it to the new date, don’t worry - we’ll assist you in re-selling your ticket safely and securely," organizers said. "Stay tuned for more details surrounding what postponement looks like - the exact date, teams/ticket switches, all that."
The event is not the first in New York City to be shut down by the recent surge in coronavirus.
New York state has broken its new positive COVID case count record three days in a row this week, with another 22,478 people testing positive on Sunday — 12,404 of which who live in New York City, according to data.
The omicron wave has also led several Broadway shows to cancel individual performances, the Radio City Rockettes to halt all remaining performances and Mayor-elect Eric Adams to postponehis inauguration ceremony.
More information can be found on the Kwanzaa Crawl postponement here.
This article originally appeared on the Bed-Stuy Patch
