Oakmont’s ‘Comeback Crawl’ promotes local businesses on rebound from covid slowdown

Beverly Vopicka had a surprisingly lovely Saturday in Oakmont’s business district.

The newly vaccinated 76-year-old resident of The Rivers Edge apartments — who, like many people, hasn’t been out and about much during the pandemic — happily strolled along Allegheny River Boulevard on the 70-degree afternoon with her grandson and daughter, and popped into more local shops than she ever has.

Equipped with a Bingo-style game card of businesses participating in Oakmont’s inaugural “Comeback Crawl,” she checked out the puzzles at Castle Toy and Games, browsed personalized gifts at Embroidery from the Heart and tasted olive oils at Oakmont Olive Oil Company.

Then, while munching on free pizza and Oakmont Bakery cookies alongside dozens of others at outdoor tables at Carnivores, Vopicka’s day got even better — her raffle ticket was called; she won the day’s $1,000 prize.

“I’m still in shock. I never win anything,” Vopicka said as she pulled from her purse for the second time the freshly inked check in her name. “Oh, my,” she said, before smiling wide, clapping her hands in glee and adding, “I’ll share it with my grandsons.”

Vopicka’s grand-prize win capped off the “Comeback Crawl” — an event aimed to help support local businesses and spur activity at Oakmont storefronts along Allegheny River Boulevard following the covid-spurred economic slowdown of the past year. More than 30 businesses and sponsors contributed, and many participants said they hoped to see more such activities in the works.

“Oakmont is one of the most supportive communities I’ve seen,” said Kaitlin Cliber, who works at Oakmont Bakery and helped pass out the game cards outside The Oaks theater. “Everyone wants to help each other, everyone wants to see each business thrive. No one wants to see anything close down or shut down.”

Planned by chamber members Sarah Hummel of Be Yoga Oakmont and attorney Meg Burkardt, the five-hour event aimed to encourage members of the community to support local business owners in a way that was both safe and fun.

“It was a great idea. It’s been great for us. We’ve had a lot of people come into our store,” said Sharon Carroll, owner of Oakmont Olive Oil Company. “Everybody is talking about how they really haven’t done something like this in so long — and it’s done right, because we’re still social-distancing and wearing masks. It’s just getting together out in the sunshine and they’re able to walk to the stores and interact with other people and play the game.”

More than 150 people picked up game cards at The Oaks Theater before venturing to as many of the places on the list they wanted.

”Well, I’ve never crawled to Oakmont Tavern, but I’ve crawled out of Oakmont Tavern,” Richard Rodgers joked as he inspected the game card.

He and his wife, Eva Rodgers, looked forward to going to most on the list — she especially was eager to get to Oakmont Skin Care.

“We’re Oakmonters for about 15 years now, and we wanted to support the town, do some stuff, un-covid ourselves and just try to get back to normal,” Richard Rodgers said. “We just wanted to go out and hit up all the local businesses that we used to go to all the time.”