GO Cedar Rapids unveils CR Ale Trail

GO Cedar Rapids has unveiled the CR Ale Trail, an online initiative to encourage people to visit local bars, restaurants and breweries.

The program, which works similar to a mobile app, includes perks and discounts at more than 25 participating venues in and around Cedar Rapids. Users can buy a $30 yearly membership to access the perks, which have a total value of more than $500.

'What we do as an organization is promote the area,” said Aaron McCreight, President and CEO of GO Cedar Rapids. 'We don't build restaurants, we don't build breweries, we drive traffic to our restaurants, we drive traffic to our breweries.”

Taylor McGurk, director of destination development, originally proposed the idea and said GO Cedar Rapids is working on other 'mobile passport programs” for the future, including an upcoming mobile guide to the Iowa Fashion Project's Dec. 1 Sleigh the Runway event. He said the organization is looking to develop similar mobile passports for different niches in Cedar Rapids and eventually bring them together in a streamlined version for visitors.

'Our number one goal is to move people. It's a digital way to move people through the experience of Cedar Rapids,” he said. 'Our mission is driving economic development.”

He said the perks are meant to not just incentivize people to visit local establishments but to help tell their stories. When Iowa's oldest modern brewery Millstream Brewing Company opened in Amana, for example, beers were $1, so one of Millstream's perks is buy one beer, get the second beer for $1.

Patrons can purchase the memberbship online at CRAleTrail.com or at area Hy-Vee stores.

The Ale Trail program is designed to be dynamic - perks may change throughout the year and new restaurants and venues may be added. In order to participate, McGurk said, a restaurant needs to have at least one Cedar Rapids beer on tap.

'We have to cultivate this civic pride,” he said.

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