Rehoboth Gumbo Crawl set for Feb. 25

The Purple Parrot will be one of 10 restaurants taking part in this year’s Gumbo Crawl, from 2 to 5 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 25 in Rehoboth Beach.

Hugh Fuller, owner of Purple Parrot, said it was a last-minute decision to resurrect the crawl, with other restaurants that wanted to be involved. Fuller said the number of restaurants was limited to 10 but there could have been more; he said there was not enough time or advertising to make the event larger.

Those involved include Fable, Conch Island, Purple Parrot, Rigby’s, The Pond, Cafe Azafran, Mariachi’s, Zogg’s, Chesapeake and Maine and Papa Grande. Each restaurant will have tastings; judging ballots are on sale now for $10. Fuller said ballots went on sale Feb. 11 and 40 percent of Purple Parrot’s were sold on the first day. Only 500 ballots are available.

Fuller said each restaurant will serve 2-ounce portions of their gumbo, and those with ballots will rank their top three.

Fuller was one of the creators of the Gumbo Crawl 10 years ago, along with then-Rehoboth Beach Main Street Executive Administrator Fay Jacobs. The event had been run by Main Street, but in May 2016, Main Street announced it would  be dissolving in 2017, leaving several of the organization’s sponsored events in jeopardy.

“I think there’s enough people in the current businesses that want Main Street to function. It’s just trying to figure out how we are going to continue it and get it going again,” Fuller said. “I think it’s a matter of getting people that are interested and want to create a vibrant business district downtown. We’re not trying to make it as busy as the summer season but we would like to keep businesses open.”

He said he believed the businesses could work together to create and support events in town to bring people into town.

Fuller said as a founder of the Gumbo Crawl, it was personal to him to keep it going.

“If it wasn’t successful, I wouldn’t put much effort into it. We don’t want money from it, we want to generate money for the business,” he said.

Fuller said the money raised by the Gumbo Crawl would be donated to the Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Company.

For more information on the Gumbo Crawl, visit Purple Parrot Grill or Rehoboth Beach Gumbo Crawl on Facebook.