Marcellus Jones poured his friendship into the hearts of so many during his years as a bartender that a downtown Cape Girardeau pub crawl has been planned for July 28 to benefit the Marcellus Jones Memorial Foundation.

President of the Marcellus Jones Memorial Foundation Jen Carothers said in a phone interview Thursday she has been overwhelmed with the support shown by sponsors and volunteers to honor Jones, who died unexpectedly of natural causes June 9 at the age of 50.

The six-hour pub crawl -- from 7 p.m. to 1 a. m. -- to benefit the foundation includes three separate giving levels available for sponsorships. Carothers said the "gold" and "silver" sponsors -- nearing 25 for each -- are nowhere near the complete list for donations.

"We have bronze level, too, and those are people who are donating the gifts for the winners of the pub crawl, and we just can't fit that all on the poster," she said.

Carothers calculated roughly 85 sponsors at different levels as of Thursday afternoon, with more expected as the event date draws near.

She said the designated sponsorship spots "went so quick" she was unable to initially include all the bars wanting to participate.

The crawl includes 10 designated stops at various businesses downtown: Minglewood Brewery, Pour House, Rude Dog Pub, Coin-Op Cantina, The Hangout, Shakers, Ragsdales, Port Cape Girardeau, Hotshots Sports Bar and Grill and Blue Diamond Sports Bar.

A pre-crawl rugby match hosted by The Kohlfeld Scorpions will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau to benefit the event. Carothers said that came about simply because of the fact that "those are Marcellus' brothers" and they wanted to do something in his honor as well.

Jeff Lashley, longtime friend of Jones and Marcellus Jones Memorial Foundation volunteer said seeing the outpouring of support isn't surprising, knowing what type of man Marcellus was, the type of friends that he had and how he touched people.

"Knowing Marcellus for 23 years almost, to see the amount of people come together and actually join this event and to share their stories and donate things has just been overwhelming," he said.

Because of Marcellus knowing so many people and so many people loving Marcellus, the support has been great and "so amazing," Carothers said.

"We're doing an event in four weeks that typically takes a year to plan," she said.

According to Carothers, the money raised from the pub crawl will be used to benefit scholarships through the Marcellus Jones Memorial Foundation.

"That's what Marcellus would've done," she said.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632