Repeal Prohibition Parade and Party

On December 5, 1933, the states officially ratified the 21st Amendment, which repealed alcohol prohibition in America. To celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the repeal of prohibition, 21st Amendment Brewery, located in San Francisco, CA, wanted to have a parade. Working through Campbell Consulting, grassrootsPR generated clever ideas to ensure the event was newsworthy. We suggested offering birthday bounties for someone turning 21 and someone turning 75 on December 5, and making them the Grand Marshals of the parade. We established a password-only speakeasy at the after-party and twittered geohash coordinates to the passwords, which were hidden throughout the city.

As a  result of extensive online public relations outreach, beer bloggers talked up the event in the weeks leading up to the event, and the  parade made community calendars ranging from Yelp! To SquidList. Friday morning, December 5 found mention of our parade on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle and on the lips of radio personalities at KFOG and KGO-AM. KTVU (Channel 2) covered the ringing of the bell opening happy hour at 2:31 p.m. (when word of repeal officially reached San Francisco in 1933). Rumor has it Larry Harvey attended the parade’s kick-off at Justin Herman Plaza. By 5:15 p.m., the parade (now 80-strong) reached 21at Amendment Brewery, chanting “We Want Beer!” and singing “All we are saying, is give yeast a chance!” Even SFist.com had fun with the event. See more photos. Photos by Anthony Dimaano.

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