Finding ways to help local bars and bartenders if the goal of an East Moline fundraiser.

The Bring Back the Bars event is happening Saturday at noon. It starts at Hey Bryan’s and will support six local bars and four local bartenders that were out of work throughout the pandemic.

Michelle Berthoud, the organizer of the event, said she knew she needed to do this since the service industry had been hit so hard and so many bartenders she knew were without work.

“They never thought in a million years they would see in their lifetime, I never thought I’d see it in my lifetime, but unfortunately, hopefully, this will be the start of something new and we’re looking forward to having more Quad City events and we can start being positive again,” Berthoud said.

Connie Cornmesser, Hey Bryan’s owner, said her bar was closed for five and a half months throughout the pandemic. She’s ready to have customers back.

She said the bar crawl is good for more than just her business.

“It’s going to get people walking up and down our streets and our main street area, they will actually walk past other businesses that maybe they didn’t realize were there,” Cornmesser said.

Masks are required when going in to businesses. Organiers are hoping for nice weather to have people outside to help with social distancing.

When going to the different bars, customers will be entered in a raffle for different prizes.

More information on the event can be found on the Facebook event page.

The six bars included in the bar crawl are Hey Bryan’s, Leisure Time, Racer’s Edge, Whiskey Stop, Drunken Barrels and Junior’s Sports Bar & Grill.