If you didn’t already know, October is domestic violence awareness month. It’s also the month in which the Crisis Center of Central New Hampshire puts on the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event in downtown Concord, where men don high heels and strut their stuff down Main Street for a mile, with the point being to demonstrate in a fun way literally what it’s like to walk a mile in a woman’s shoes. The event is aimed at promoting awareness of domestic and sexual violence.
To complement the walk, the crisis center has also created Cocktails for a Cause. Now in its third year, the cocktail campaign goes on for about a month leading up to the walk. Several local establishments – Cheers, Barley House, The Granite, O Steaks & Seafood, Lithermans Limited, The Draft, Revival Kitchen & Bar, Hermanos Cocina Mexicana and Chuck’s Barbershop – are participating by offering up a specialty cocktail, with 20 percent of proceeds from the drink sales going back to the crisis center. The point of the cocktails is to inform people about domestic violence awareness month and the crisis center – servers are encouraged to share plenty of information about both things to all customers.
The color for domestic violence awareness month is purple, so many of the establishments have incorporated the color into their drinks. It’s just a way to show that the particular cocktail is part of the effort.
And it’s not all fun and games, either. This is a competition, which many of the establishments are taking seriously. It’s also been a smash hit for several businesses already, said Karen McNamara, development director at the Crisis Center of Central New Hampshire.
“Revival sold 40 Friday night,” she said. “I have people that will do a circuit,” meaning a group will go from one place to the next trying all the cocktails.
Servers also hand out voting cards for patrons to score the cocktails. Winners will be announced on the crisis center’s social media accounts and in the Monitor.
We got to try Revival Kitchen & Bar’s offering – a Purple Pear Martini – which was refreshingly excellent. The presentation was unlike anything else, with the purple hue the highlight.
Make sure you get to any (or all) of the participating businesses before Oct. 7.
