Bar crawl draws big crowd to Chip Strip

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - The nightlife is humming in Buffalo's "Chip Strip" for Buffalo's Biggest Bar Crawl.

Chippewa Street in Buffalo is known as a party district. The streets fill up with people every weekend. Amy Gore and her friends are heading to this year's bar crawl.

Amy said, "I think it's about culture and getting together, Buffalo's great melting pot."

But the bar crawl taking place on this Friday night is serving another purpose: changing the image of the party scene so people of all ages come here.

Jay Manno said, "We've been working pretty hard to clean things up down here. We're working on some trees, working on some new lighting, we put the Christmas lights up last year. Some new garbage cans. Just overall giving it a new face-lift."

Manno is the General Manager of Soho and President of the Buffalo Entertainment District and he is working with Peter Altholz, the CEO of Best of Buffalo Promotions. The company organizes events like the bar crawl.

Altholz said, "We're also giving back to the street by putting some of those proceeds towards street improvement and beautifying the area."

$10 from every ticket will be used to make that happen. This new section of Main Street is what they're striving for on Chippewa.

Manno explained, "You see other areas in the country, Baltimore, you know, some places in Florida, even in New York State, Rochester, Syracuse. Their entertainment district looks a lot nicer."

And he says nicer places tend to attract a nicer clientele. Buffalo's Entertainment District has reorganized in the past year. It includes a number of downtown businesses and besides working together to spruce up Chippewa, they also schedule a number of events in which the proceeds are donated to charity.