If you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll ask for some milk. If you give someone a cookie during On9’s Downtown Cookie Crawl, he might ask for 17 more.
On Friday night, Ninth Square and the surrounding blocks buzzed with people carrying cardboard boxes. They were walking in and out of local businesses, checking out the wares or food, chatting with store owners and employees — and grabbing a cookie for their box.
“We’ve had 20 or 30 people already come in,” said Carol Orr, of English Building Market on Chapel Street. This was only 200 minutes into the two-hour Cooke Crawl. Her offering was a plate of peppermint crunch cookies from Four Flours Baking Company, which visitors seemed eager to collect. But many were also intrigued by the vintage and antique store’s collection of unique furniture, clothing, high-end knickknacks, and beautiful art.
This is how the Cookie Crawl worked: The cookies were the draw — and an effective one — but the participating stores, restaurants, bars, and galleries were the real attraction. The crawl’s 18 stops with a wide array of wares (and cookies) ranged from 101 Art Threads, a gallery pedaling home-made vegan chocolate chip cookies next to small, stunning abstract paintings, to Duc’s Place, the Vietnamese café where the owner, Duc Nguyen, made sesame balls from rice flour with a bean-based filling. (They were delicious, by the way).
Sesame balls at Duc’s Place
Friday was the fifth cookie crawl On9 had hosted, organizer Lindsey Burke said, and there was high demand: Boxes were sold out two days in advance.
“We chose cookies because a lot of our events tend to be 21 plus, and we wanted to do something family friendly for the holidays,” Burke said. There were definitely kids in tow on Friday, but adults without youngsters seemed to be having just as much fun.
“I think this is such a great idea, because it got us downtown and we went into so many places we’ve never been to before,” said New Haven public school teacher Paul Vercillo, who was cookie-crawling with seven friends. They’d just spent 20 minutes wandering around English Building Market. Vercillo and his friends had been particularly diligent, hitting almost every stop in order. “It’s amazing to check out these places in our city,” he said, and then laughed. “The only problem we’re having is that we’re eating all these cookies as we go.”
Paul Vercillo and friends on the Cookie Crawl
The 18 stops did create potential for a brutal bellyache. Ideally the box helped people save their finds for later — but it was tough to resist a flourless chocolate cookie from G Café when it was right in front of you. Perhaps luckily, a few places offered something to quench crawlers’ thirst. INFO New Haven had hot cider and coffee, Vovo Organics had a selection of teas, and Capture Salon offered hot chocolate.
This crawl was more expansive than previous ones, extending all the way from Orange Street up to Claire’s Cornucopia on the corner of Chapel and College, allowing the greater downtown business district to join the crawl, instead of just Ninth Square.
“We’ve done a bit of rebranding,” Burke said. “Originally, we were focused only on Ninth Square, but since that area is now so vibrant, we wanted to make sure we’re focusing on all our downtown businesses. We wanted to spread the wealth, so to speak.”
It was first-come-first-serve for the businesses who were seeking cookies and official participation in the cookie crawl. Those who signed up early had the option to get cookies from local bakeries, like Four Flours, Katalina’s, and Sweet Mary’s. Or they could home-make them, as Duc did. The businesses that didn’t sign up in time weren’t part of the official crawl — but that didn’t stop some from putting things out.
The people at Artist & Craftsman Supply on Chapel Street put together crafty gift bags instead of cookies, and advertised a “Secret Cookie Stop.”
“We didn’t officially get cookies,” one employee said. “But we figured, why not do something anyway?”
Why not, indeed? Vercillo and friends were intrigued by the “Secret Cookie Stop” and wandered around the craft store for a while.
“I didn’t even know this store was here,” Vercillo exclaimed.
