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Thousands of people fanned out across Brooklyn in celebration of Kwanzaa and in support of Black businesses Tuesday, the first day of the holiday.

More than 5,000 people packed bars and restaurants in Brooklyn Tuesday for the sixth annual Kwanzaa Crawl. To date, the event has raised more than $1 million for Black-owned businesses.

To celebrate Kwanzaa, Brooklyn’s annual Kwanzaa Crawl is amplifying Black-owned businesses in the New York City borough. Its sixth iteration brought over 5,000 attendees to participate.

Thousands are taking part Sunday in Brooklyn’s Kwanzaa Crawl to support Black-owned bars and businesses. The event was created in 2016 as a one-day celebration dedicated to Black culture, community and enterprise through the key principles of Kwanzaa.

Kwanzaa Crawl is recognized by the New York Times as one of the top five Kwanzaa celebrations in the United States!

Let’s support black businesses through libations! According to The Root, the annual Kwanzaa Crawl helps generate $250,000 for black businesses in Brooklyn and Harlem in New York City.

Even us anti-capitalists recognize that economic freedom is power in the good ole US of A. And as it relates to Kwanzaa, on this fourth day, we celebrate Ujamaa (ooh-jaa-mah), meaning cooperative economics and also, “shared wealth and work”, “economic self-reliance” and “obligation of generosity.”

The first day of Kwanzaa may be focused around Unity, but the theme of the fourth annual Kwanzaa Crawl was Ujamaa: a Swahili word meaning “extended family.” 

What started in 2016 as a response to the wave of gentrification that was wiping out black-owned restaurants and bars throughout New York City has turned into a movement — and it’s themed around Kwanzaa.

Thousands are celebrating Kwanzaa with a bar crawl that has become a tradition in the city; CBS2's Valerie Castro reports.

They broke up into teams and leaders with bullhorns in hand took festive crowds on tour of black owned businesses in Brooklyn. Kwanzaa Crawl stepped off on Thursday to mark the start of the 7-day holiday celebrating African heritage.

Thousand people took to the streets of Brooklyn and Harlem Thursday evening for the annual Kwanzaa Crawl. The event was started in 2016 by sisters Kerry Coddett and Krystal Stark.

Dozens of black-owned bars and restaurants in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Harlem will open their doors on Thursday, December 26th, for thousands of people who will be participating in this year's Kwanzaa Crawl.

On Thursday, the week-long holiday Kwanzaa kicks off as a celebration of African American culture and heritage in the United States.

Thousands of revelers will flock to black-owned venues across New York City this week to celebrate Kwanzaa with a bar crawl.

Several of Brooklyn’s Black-owned nightspots are preparing for crowds of partiers on the day after Christmas.

Tracie Strahan speaks with the founders of the fourth-annual Kwanzaa Crawl, which supports black-owned businesses in Harlem and Brooklyn.

The fourth annual Kwanzaa Crawl, organized by comedian Kerry Coddett and Krystal Stark, will see thousands of people pick up a cup and a wristband, and then visit a series of black-owned bars on what is usually one of the quietest days of the year. 

Kwanzaa Crawl is the largest annual bar crawl in the world supporting Black-owned restaurants and lounges in Brooklyn and Harlem. Last year over, 4,100 Crawlers generated more than $250,000 in one day for participating businesses.

One of the city’s biggest celebrations of black-owned restaurants and bars returns next week with the fourth annual Kwanzaa crawl.

Powered by sisters Kerry Coddett and Krystal Stark, through their organization, Operation Mobilize, Kwanzaa Crawl is a bar crawl that will take place on the first day of Kwanzaa, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019 in Brooklyn & Harlem, New York.

At this special celebration, Brooklyn and Harlem's African diaspora communities toast the booming black-owned businesses of their boroughs. Show up for the first day of Kwanzaa, join a team and hit up over 30 bars, restaurants and shops in your borough.

This year, the Kwanzaa Crawl can take you on a tour of over thirty of the city’s Black-owned bars. Thousands of participants will be split up into “teams” as they move through Brooklyn or Harlem, drinking, dancing, and celebrating the people of the African diaspora.

Last week thousands of Black New Yorkers kicked off their Kwanzaa celebration with a fast-growing community event called Kwanzaa Crawl. Now what exactly is Kwanzaa Crawl you may ask?

December 26th, 2018 - Thousands of people began celebrating the first day of Kwanzaa Wednesday with the "Kwanzaa Crawl" – an effort to support minority-owned business in Brooklyn neighborhoods. Co-founder Kerry Coddett says the crawl will stimulate the local economy after losing "so many black businesses due to gentrification." Thirty bars and restaurants across the borough and Harlem are participating in the event. Last year's Crawl generated $100,000. Organizers expect to raise even more money this year. Kwanzaa is celebrated by many African-Americans and honors seven core principles, including purpose, unity and faith.

December 20th, 2018 - Back for the third year, the Kwanzaa Crawl set out to boost business at Brooklyn’s black-owned bars and restaurants.

December 20th, 2018 - This Kwanzaa bar crawl supports Black-owned businesses throughout Brooklyn and Harlem

December 19th, 2018 - It’s black for the third time!

The business boosting Kwanzaa Crawl will return for its third year on Dec. 26, sending thousands of bar hoppers to 31 black-owned bars and restaurants in Brooklyn and in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood. The day-long event is the brainchild of two Caribbean-American sisters who wanted to focus on black economic power on the first day of the pan-African holiday.

December 14th, 2018 - But what if someone decided to enhance the concept of a bar crawl? What if we had a bar crawl designed for us by us? In comes sisters Kerry Coddett and Krystal Stark to do just that. On December 26th, Coddett is kicking off the third annual Kwanzaa Crawl, described on its website as "a one day event where people of the African diaspora join together to support black-owned bars in their neighborhoods.

December 5th, 2018 - At this special celebration, Brooklyn and Harlem's African diaspora communities toast the booming black-owned businesses of their boroughs. Show up for the first day of Kwanzaa, join a team and hit up over 30 bars, restaurants and shops in your borough. 

November 11th, 2018 - KWANZAA CRAWL: BROOKLYN AND HARLEM, NEW YORK

Held for the past two years in December, Kwanzaa Crawl happens the day after Christmas or the first day of Kwanzaa, and it celebrates black-owned bars. When it launched in 2016, the event had over 1,600 participants who visited more than 17 black-owned businesses in Brooklyn. In 2017, the Harlem leg was added, allowing more than 25 bars across both neighborhoods to participate.

December 28th, 2017 - On the first day of Kwanzaa, I joined more than a thousand revelers for the second annual Kwanzaa Crawl in New York City. On a chilly Tuesday afternoon, participants made their way to 25 black-owned bars in Brooklyn and Harlem for an occasion symbolizing economic empowerment, unity and the celebration of black culture within New York City.

December 26th 2017 - A New York-based comedienne is hoping to make Kwanzaa cool again.  Kerry Coddett tells Atlanta Black Star that Black folks have become woke in recent years. And the same newness should be afforded to the annual celebration of family, community and culture.

December 26th, 2017 - 1. Spend the first day of Kwanzaa at the second-annual Kwanzaa crawl. It celebrates black-owned businesses throughout Brooklyn and Harlem.

December 26th, 2017 - New Yorkers walked and raised glasses to celebrate Kwanzaa on Tuesday, supporting black-owned businesses along the way. "Celebrating in this way will get young people's attention, because it's not as popular as it could and should and could be," one woman said. Hundreds of New Yorkers marked the first day of Kwanzaa by taking part in the second annual Kwanzaa bar crawl.

December 24th, 2017 - For the second year in a row, the black bar crawl brings unity, fellowship and fun to NYC.

The bar or pub crawl is a social gathering designed to bring people together under the promise of good drinks and good fun. For decades, communities across the globe (more popularly in Europe, N. America, and certain parts of Asia) have participated in crawls to much success and growing popularity. They also serve the function of putting newer bars on the map. While in some areas like the UK, crawls are known for spontaneity in terms of its destination hopping, places like the US offer structure and sometimes even a detailed, mapped-out plan of where "crawlers" are expected to be and when.

December 22nd, 2017 - As one of the biggest Pan-African holidays of the year approaches, various cultural institutions and organizations citywide are celebrating Kwanzaa. The seven day holiday created in the sixties to promote black pride and unity, honors African heritage, community, and family values.

December 21st, 2017 - What does black economic power look like? It’s a question comedian Kerry Coddett asked her sister one day while coordinating a bar crawl for people of the African diaspora to unite in supporting black-owned businesses in their neighborhood. The idea became Kwanzaa Crawl, which launched in Brooklyn in 2016.

December 20th, 2017 - One Bed-Stuy resident is aiming to help people get “woke” about Kwanzaa.

Comedian Kerry Coddett, the producer of the Kwanzaa Crawl and a writer for a forthcoming late-night comedic docuseries on HBO produced by John Oliver, created a web series to clear up some misconceptions about Kwanzaa, including the allegation that it’s a “made up holiday.”

December 20th, 2017 - She’s trying to make Kwanzaa hip!

A Bedford-Stuyvesant comedian will lead a day-drinking expedition to black-owned bars across Brooklyn for the second annual Kwanzaa Crawl on Dec. 26. The event not only supports black-owned businesses, but is a way to get young people involved with the African-American holiday, said its creator.

December 19th, 2017 - What is Kwanzaa? Growing up, I always imagined it as a sort of black Christmas and I always felt cheated by the fact that my family didn’t celebrate it. I felt like I was the only black person who didn’t know what Kwanzaa meant, but as comedian and actress Kerry Coddett highlights in her web series “Kwanzaa Actually,” a lot of people don’t know much about the holiday. Kwanzaa is celebrated around the same time as Christmas, taking place for a week between Dec. 26 and Jan. 1, and this year, Kwanza Crawl returns in Brooklyn and Harlem.Kwanzaa Crawl is a pub crawl that seeks to celebrate black-owned bars, à la the popular Santa Con festivities. Attendees are encouraged to wear clothing that celebrates their culture, history, and makes them feel unapologetically black. 

December 19th, 2017 - The holiday season is upon us and there’s no shortage of Christmas parties, or ugly sweater parties, or ugly people wearing Christmas sweaters. There is, however, only one Kwanzaa Crawl. On Tuesday, December 26, the first day of Kwanzaa, thousands of black and brown people will come together in support of the Black-owned bars in Brooklyn and Harlem. Dressed in whatever makes them feel unapologetically black, Kwanzaa Crawlers will disperse into over 30 different teams, criss-crossing from bar to bar, walking and singing their favorite black family cookout songs on the way.

December 18th, 2017 - But this Kwanzaa, a bar crawl aims to turn that notion on its head. Produced by comedian and writer Kerry Coddett, the Kwanzaa Crawl returns for its second year of revelry, education and support for black-owned businesses. The event made its way across Brooklyn in 2016 and has added a collection of Harlem spots to its ranks this year. In total, more than 25 black-owned businesses are participating, and a portion of the proceeds will go to social justice organizations Barbershop Books and BLK Projek.

December 14th, 2017 - The bar crawl was not born fratty – frattiness was thrust upon it. Every once in a while, a bar crawl crawls along to redeem the reputation of a bar crawl and the very idea of drinking at multiple bars in the same night with a group, distancing the crawl concept from images of vomiting bros in Santa suits and the dregs of Jersey imbibing in Midtown.

This crawl is most definitely among the redeemers. Kwanzaa Crawl is returning for its second year, inviting people of the African diaspora to come together and support Black-owned bars in Harlem and neighborhoods across Brooklyn...

December 19th, 2017 - To celebrate Kwanzaa and black-owned businesses, a Kwanzaa bar crawl will occur on Tuesday, December 26 at noon in Harlem and Brooklyn. Participating bars include Chocolat Restaurant & Bar, Nabe and  Shrine in Harlem, as well as Peaches, Sugarcane, and BK9 in Brooklyn, each offering drink specials and more. Proceeds will benefit social justice organizations Barbershop Books and the BLK Projek. Last year’s crawl had over 1,600 participants.

December 27th, 2016 - On the 50th anniversary of Kwanzaa, hundreds of New York residents poured into local neighborhoods to support Black-owned businesses. A local comedian spurred the effort, purposely held on the first day of the seven-day celebration that bolsters Black culture and values.

December 26, 2016 - A group of Brooklyn residents met up Monday to celebrate Kwanzaa and boost local businesses.

Operation Mobilize is billing the event as the "first annual Kwanzaa Crawl." More than 1,600 people gathered to celebrate black community, family and culture. They moved on to black-owned bars and restaurants throughout the day.

December 26, 2016 - It’s a pub crawl with a purpose.

Hundreds of holiday revelers went bar-hopping through Brooklyn as part of a post-Christmas, Kwanzaa celebration to promote black businesses.

December 26th, 2016 - BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, Brooklyn — Kwanzaa is a weeklong celebration of principles that are held in high regard in the African American community, including creativity, faith, cooperative economics and unity.

Those are typically not concepts one associates with going to bars and drinking, however, in a unique first for this part of Brooklyn, an organized group traveling among bars and nightclubs on Monday was all about Kwanzaa and its values.

December 23, 2016 - Move over, SantaCon. Kwanzaa Crawl is coming to town.

The one-day event, to be held on Dec. 26 — the first day of Kwanzaa — invites people to support black-owned businesses throughout several communities in Brooklyn. The crawl also happens to fall on the 50th anniversary of the holiday.

December 19th, 2016 - Kick off Kwanzaa the best way we know how—with a bar crawl, of course. 

The brainchild of Bedford-Stuyvesant comedian Kerry Coddett, the Kwanzaa Crawl aims to support black-owned businesses in Brooklyn with a hop between sixteen bars and restaurants...

December 19th, 2016 - SantaCon is finished, now get ready for Kwanzaa Crawl.

Bedford-Stuyvesant resident and comedian Kerry Coddett is launching a Kwanzaa-celebrating bar crawl to support black-owned businesses throughout Brooklyn.