SHOTGUN WEDDING

“The environment we create is crazy,” explains Mikayla Houser, creator of the philanthropic organization Big Ball Pub Crawls. “It always starts out pretty mellow and ends up an absolutely ridiculous, fun time.”

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Sounds about right. Her first crawl, an ’80s ski-party theme that descended upon Golden in February, attracted some 250 booze hounds and raised more than $5,000 for Autism Speaks. Today, Big Ball is hosting the Ball & Chain Pub Crawl, which sports a tried-and-true white-trash-wedding theme and invades Olde Town Arvada.

“If the term ‘white-trash wedding’ offends people, I don’t think they’re going to enjoy a pub crawl of this caliber,” warns Houser, “where there are literally hundreds of costumed people all over the place acting like ridiculous, responsible adults.”

Responsible? That’s debatable. Sure, Houser says she and her volunteers will, “take keys away from anyone doing rock, paper, scissors to decide who will drive home.” And the website does discourage smoking “the green” unless you have a medical card. But “it’s a daytime crawl,” Houser admits, “so you’re passed out in bed when the sun is still up.” Now we’re talking.

The crawl runs from 1 to 5 p.m. with an after-party at the D Note, 7519 Grandview Avenue, featuring the Raygunomics and a slew of costume contests. A $35 fee scores a PBR can or two at five different bars, plus beer at the after-party. Registration starts at 11 a.m., also at the D Note. Get more information at www.bigballpubcrawls.com or by calling 720-877-7543.
Sat., July 24, 1-5 p.m., 2010