Photo by Doug Loyer The Town House had a large crowd for the Marietta Noon Lions Club “Crawling for a Cure” fundraiser.

MARIETTA — The Marietta Noon Lions Club took an ambitious step towards raising money to fight childhood cancer with its first-time “Crawling for a Cure” event held Saturday in downtown Marietta.

The crawl benefited BrAva locally and the Ohio Lions Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

Purchased wristbands gained participants exclusive access to drink and food specials at six downtown Marietta establishments within walking distance that included the Riverfront Bar & Grill, Over the Moon Pub & Pizza, Town House, River Town Grill, The Galley and Gator’s Easy Wind Pub.

The first time fundraising crawl pre-sold about $3,000 worth of $20 wristbands and $25 “day of” sales were rapidly adding to that total at the check-in tent on the Armory Square lawn. Organizers were happy that it looked like they would reach their goal of having 250 participants. They expressed appreciation for all that helped make the event a success including, the establishments, the Riverview Credit Union, Justin Arthur – Advantage Real Estate, Ashland RV Park, Uber/Lyft and especially those who bought wristbands.

Many of the establishments offered Cinco De Mayo themed food specials and drinks. Gift basket raffles and giveaways added to the festive experience.

“One of our five Lions Club service areas is pediatric cancer,” said Event Chair Sara Bonnette. “We wanted to come up with a new, different and fun way to raise money for pediatric cancer. This will benefit BrAva locally and the Ohio Lions Pediatric Cancer Foundation as well.”

The Lions Club is well known for collecting eyeglasses and selling French fries at local festivals, but they actually do a lot more than that. They have five service areas that they actively work on which include pediatric cancer, vision, the environment, hunger and diabetes.

The Marietta Lions Club is a service organization that pursues these causes with passion.

BrAva will benefit from Saturday’s “Crawling for Cure” event. BrAva is a non-profit local organization that was formed in 2011 by co-founders Traci Nichols and Desni Crock, whose children were battling cancer and were going through the similar experiences.

“Our name ‘BrAva’ is a combination of those two girls, Bridget Crock and Ava Nichols,” said Traci Nichols, Ava’s mom. “We have helped over 50 families locally. We try to financially and emotionally help families in the Mid-Ohio Valley who have a child with cancer. We also give money each year to CureSearch for childhood cancer research. It’s all because of the amazing support that this community has always given us.

“I’m excited for this ‘Crawling for a Cure’ event. I think it’s going to be a good time,” said Nichols. “I’ve never done a crawl before. We truly appreciate the Marietta Noon Lions Club helping BrAva. They have supported us for a few years now. They’ve always been really good to us.”

Nancy Arthur agreed that the Marietta Noon Lions Club has been gracious to BrAva.

“This is not the first thing they’ve done for us,” she said.

Arthur is the grandmother of Bridget and Anna Crock who have battled childhood cancer.

“I’m happy to see that this many people participated,” said Arthur, who was enjoying some Over the Moon Pizza. “We’re very fortunate to live in this community that is so active and supportive. This event a good idea. I hope they have it again next year.”

“This crawl is for a great cause and it is very well organized,” said Claire Mullen of Over the Moon Pizza. “It’s absolutely a win for the cause and for the establishments. This is a nice boost.”

“The cause of childhood cancer is what brought our attention to this,” admitted crawler Chelsea Eddy of Newport, “This is our first crawl in Marietta and it seems well organized.”

Eddy’s friend Bre Brady, also of Newport, said it was a fun time and rewarding to help out a good cause in fighting childhood cancer.

“We love to participate in events like this,” said Nate Shahan, Galley General Manager. “It helps get people get out and about. I’m excited to see the amount of people show up.”

Shannon Markin, Lafayette Hotel Front of House Supervisor, said the Riverfront Grill was glad to participate.

“It’s always good for the community to pull together for a great cause. Marietta always supports each other.”

The “Crawl for a Cure” was a benefit for all involved. The event raised funds for childhood cancer and the establishments got a nice Saturday afternoon crowd as well.

“We’re very excited for this event. We’ve seen a good turnout,” said Preston Eakins, Cook at the Town House. “We couldn’t be happier to participate in this to help out.”

Ashton Wisenbarger, of Marietta, enjoyed sitting in the beer garden at the Town House. She thought that it was awesome that they can raise so much money for childhood cancer and thought that it was a great reason to get out with friends.

Rivertown Grill Manager Jason Ware also thought that the event is great. He said they participate in a lot of crawls and try to support important groups or causes.

“This one is well organized and has a great following,” said Ware. “It’s a good way to raise money, get out, network and to meet people as well.”

“I love this idea. It’s for a great cause,” said Jeff “Gator” Harris, Owner of Gator’s Easy Wind Pub. “It’s a win-win for everybody. We have a very good community. We’re blessed to live here.”

Kelly Martin with her husband and friends Wendy Barber and Pam Green, all of Belpre, enjoyed time together at Gator’s.

“This is awesome,” said Martin. “I did the Mom Prom recently and we try to support anything that helps the children plus it’s a good opportunity to get out with friends.”