5th annual pub crawl for well-known mixologist set for Saturday

The fifth annual pub crawl in memory of Marcellus Jones is set for Saturday, June 10.

Jones was a well-known bartender and bar manager in the downtown Cape Girardeau scene for many years. He passed away in June 2018 from natural causes at the age of 50.

Marcellus Jones Memorial Foundation Pub Crawl was created as a continuation of the friendships Jones made in his life and the joy he brought to others.

The pub crawl will start at 7 p.m. and continue until 11 p.m. This year's stops on the pub crawl are The Rude Dog Pub, 21 Taps, Spectrum, Ebb and Flow Fermentations, Hotshots Sports Bar and Grill, Coin-Op Cantina, Many Good Things and Blue Diamond Sports Bar.

The foundation will have a tent outside the Hutson's Big Sandy Superstore starting at 6 p.m. and T-shirts, wristbands, stickers and more are for sale. Those who would like to purchase a T-shirt from a previous year's crawl can do that as well.

This year's shirt is bright yellow and priced at $15. The wristbands will be $10, and there will be a combo available for $20.

The foundation will also have a 50/50 raffle. Participants may get a pub crawl punch card from the foundation tent to be entered in a drawing for gift baskets.

This year's vice president of the foundation's board Jessica Yeo first met Jones when she went out for her 21st birthday. She said she became friends with him from her time in the downtown scene when she was younger.

She said that later, when she would walk into a place where he was working, Jones recognized her and would strike up a conversation.

Yeo has volunteered for the pub crawl each year.

"I get to walk around and talk to his old friends and everybody from every walk of life that he's known for a little while before he passed away. It never ceases to amaze me how everybody misses him terribly still," Yeo said. "Everybody says it's just amazing and how wonderful it is to see the different bright colors spread downtown."

There will be a candlelight vigil at his gravesite at 8 p.m. Friday, June 9, at Memorial Park Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. All are welcome to celebrate the life that he led.

The Marcellus Jones Memorial Foundation has started a scholarship at Southeast Missouri State University for those going into hospitality.