The pub crawl—or at least five out of the 11 bars, which was all I was man enough to make it to last night—was mobbed. As the doorman at C.C.Attle's succinctly put it, "Yeah, everybody's out tonight. They're like, 'FUCK YOU, RICIN MAN!'" Most crawlers did not estimate the threat to their lives to be a serious one. "I think it's bullshit," said C.C.Attle’s patron John Zima ("like the drink—they discontinued it, so hopefully people will forget soon").

The defense of the lifestyle was adamant: "Nothing scares us," said a gentleman named Francisco at the Madison Pub. "We're gonna go out and spend our money and get drunk!"

The doorperson at the Wild Rose, asked for thoughts on the threat, said curtly, “It’s a full moon and a lot of people. That’s what I think.” (There was no line at the time.) A patron named Megan (beautiful in her eyeglasses) was more forthcoming, expressing serious concern about homophobia in general but, again, assessing the actual risk to personal safety as minimal. “I think you’re more at risk from your drunk friends”—one of whom was play-punching her—“than you are from any situation at the bar.”

Purr and the Cuff both had many signs posted about not leaving drinks unattended. Purr's read "For your safety, we will pull all drinks that are left alone." (A left-alone drink sounds so sad. Don’t do it, people!) At the Cuff, a handsome older fellow in leather chaps said thoughtfully, “I think it’s good to be safe, but I don’t think he’d send an invitation [like this]. It seems silly for him to try it when everyone’s expecting it.” The Cuff’s signage urged you to have a friend watch your drink or to just finish it (sound advice). Another, more permanent sign warned of “CHICKEN X-ING.”

Everywhere, people danced and embraced and made out with abandon. Everywhere, everyone planned to be back out at the bars tonight, in defiance of the demented, would-be ricin poisoner’s claim in his letters to the 11 bars that he would strike on a Saturday night in January.

At the end of the night, Kevin York of Pizza Fusion—which gave out free pizza to bar crawlers all evening, no proof-of-gayness required—said they’d had their busiest night since they opened a few months back.