Is The Bay To Breakers 2017 Zero-Tolerance Policy A Party Pooper?

San Francisco Event Is Better With Beer

By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Nightlife Blogger

The 2017 Alaska Airlines Bay to Breakers is under a “zero tolerance” policy for alcohol, as stated prominently on the event’s website.

A little further down, I happened to notice, one of its sponsors is Angel City Brewery.

It’s good to see beer is, in some way, still a part of B2B.

Gosh, I remember when people were pushing kegs in shopping carts and doing keg stands. You would pull off the course to join house parties that spilled out onto the street. Tip back your beer when “Elvis’ got up on a platform and started singing to everyone.

Now there’s a “zero tolerance” policy for alcohol?

What does that mean, exactly? That they are dispatching security to check people’s backpacks for booze? On the lookout for wobbly people staggering through Golden Gate Park? (Hey, there are bars along the way!)

And more to the point: can they really stop 75,000 people from drinking a few beers (or other adult drinks) in route?

I doubt it, and in fact that’s what some locals who do this “race” every year report to me. But the very fact there’s a crackdown is, quite frankly, a crack-up. A big part of the attraction of B2B was enjoying the scene described above. It was hilarious, entertaining, and a unique experience.

Best enjoyed, of course, with alcohol.

My friends and I used to go to B2B every year, filling up Southwest flights from Los Angeles for a lively weekend in “the City.” We looked forward it for weeks, if not months.

Now, we’ve lost our mojo for it. Even if we do conceal our alcohol and manage to have a few drinks, the fact that it all has to be hidden now – or at the very least, no so out in the open – takes away a lot of the energy of the event.

We know there’s no keg stands, no beer pong in the middle of a street, and no more floats anymore. I used to love those floats! All this made Bay to Breakers the signature event of San Francisco.

Maybe I just need to go again and see for myself how much fun it still is – and I’m sure it is – but I need some motivation for it. And some mojo for it, as well.