Rehoboth Cocoa Crawl adds new restaurants to mix

A slew of new restaurants are in the mix for the third annual Rehoboth Beach Cocoa Crawl. Add a dash of good weather and organizers hope this year is the best crawl yet.

The cocoa crawl, 6 to 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1, pairs Rehoboth restaurants with local retail shops to offer food and drink samples with discounts and special sales. Organizer Alyssa Titus of Azura Clothing said 59 stores are participating this year including new restaurants: Bramble and Brine will be at Blooming Boutique, Table and Taproom will be at Browseabout Books and Morgan and Gower Cheesemonger will be at Beach Graphics.

Besides new restaurants, classic Rehoboth favorites will also be represented. Dogfish Head will be paired with Heidi Lowe, Nicola Pizza will be at Lily Pad and Blue Moon will be at Elegant Slumming. Titus said Gretchen Hanson of Hobos would be conducting a cooking demonstration at 6:30 p.m. at Azura Clothing. Delaware Distilling Company will be bringing samples of its spirits to Quiet Storm, Titus said.

Returning this year are the $10 wristbands that make the wearer eligible for the  grand prize at the end of the night. The prize is $2,000 in gift cards from participating stores. Wristbands can be purchased at First Street Station, Heidi Lowe, Azura, Carlton’s, South Moon Under and Something Comfortable. Titus said proceeds from the wristbands would go to Rehoboth Beach Main Street and the Rehoboth Beach Museum.

While it's difficult to say how many people the event draws to Rehoboth, Titus said the numbers have been in the thousands. She said cold weather may have hindered attendance in the past, but this year, the weather forecast is for a relatively warm November night.

“I think it will be a really, really good night,” Titus said.