‘Great success’ of first Cocoa Crawl through Lake Barrington business district could make it an annual staple: Organizers

The inaugural “Cocoa Crawl through Pepper Park” in Lake Barrington earlier this month drew hundreds of people from the village and surrounding areas, and was dubbed by organizers to be a sold-out success and likely to return next year.

The venture started as a partnership between the village of Lake Barrington and the Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce to raise greater awareness about the various stores and shops in the area, according to organizers.

“Based on the great response this year to the opportunity to explore Lake Barrington retail community, we expect to host this event annually,” said Suzanne Corr, president of the chamber, which serves Barrington, Barrington Hills, Lake Barrington, North Barrington, Port Barrington, South Barrington, Deer Park, Inverness, Kildeer, Long Grove and Tower Lakes In Illinois.

Corr said the area offers “a unique collection of vintage, resale, antique, gift, men’s and women’s clothing boutiques and home décor and design shops.”

The self-guided crawl included 13 shops – most in the Pepper Park business district – starting at Greater Chicago Kitchen and Bath. Participants paid $20 for a ticket, and received a mug, a tote bag and goodies like cocoa treats, as well as chances to win raffle prizes and enter giveaways.

That Saturday afternoon, about 200 people participated in the crawl, visiting shops such as Wild Onion Brewery and Banquets, Creative Studio M, Tattered Tiques, Kate Marker Home and The Winterberry Companies.

Kailey Check, 34, of Barrington, kicked off the event right as it started with her husband, Brian Piotrowski, 37, and her friend Joey Lorich, 36, who was visiting from Orlando, Florida.

“We came out to enjoy the nice winter weather, have some cocoa and support local businesses,” Check said.

She looked forward to visiting all of the 13 stops.

“We hardly come to these stores because we live in the village,” she said.

For sisters Linda Racki, 67, of Arlington Heights, and Joni Kraft, 60, of Fox River Grove, who grew up in Barrington, it was a chance to spend time together and visit the area they remember from childhood. They looked forward to visiting the vintage shops and stopping by Wild Asparagus.

For the participating business owners, the event was a good way to connect with the community and draw in new customers. During the crawl, stores were packed, which business owners said was about double or triple the traffic they’d normally see.

The Sélectionner Boutique was bustling during the event with a line of customers waiting with various articles in hand. For Charlie and Jacey Silverberg, husband-and-wife co-owners, it was bittersweet, as they plan to close the store next month after being in business two years

For Julia Noack King, co-owner of Wild Asparagus Catering, the cocoa crawl was a chance to show off the business’s take-home items, in addition to their catering line.

“We want to spread the word, Wild Asparagus goes beyond catering,” said King.

As part of the crawl, people won free quarts of Wild Asparagus soup in raffle drawings, among other prizes, which also included a complimentary in-home design consultation for a kitchen project from GCKAB.

“If you take a tour of the Lake Barrington retail community, you will be so impressed with the quality of these unique shops,” Corr said. “BACC’s mission is always to raise awareness of our local businesses, promote shop and support local and create events that result in dollars spent in our communities benefiting local business.”

Christine Won is a freelancer.