Rockford Coffee Crawl is back with more shops and more days to get your caffeine (or decaf) fix
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A celebration of the area’s independent and locally owned coffee shops is back this weekend with more participants and more days to spread out your caffeine rush.
Rockford Coffee Crawl will run Friday and Saturday at nine shops, growing from its original one day and six participants when the celebration was first held in September.
“It’s all about bringing as many of us together as we can to celebrate coffee,” said Matthew Simpson, part of the Eight Fifteen Capital team that owns Wired Cafe in downtown. “It’s great to have a bigger team now. So many of us have different gifts or different things that make us special. Now, through the spring Coffee Crawl experience, we’re hoping more people can see the things that make us all unique.”
Dee Dee Weiser, owner of DeeDee’s Main Street Coffee in downtown Rockton, said local shop owners see themselves as collaborators rather than competitors.
“The more us local places get together and show local love for our communities, I think, is absolutely key to keeping our businesses strong and going for the folks we wait on every day,” she said. “Everybody is in it together. It’s not like anybody considers your next door neighbor coffee shop competition anymore.”
Last year, the Rockford Coffee Crawl was launched on the heels of an announcement that Starbucks was moving into downtown Rockford. Local shops were spurred to work together to lift each other up. Now, that spirit of camaraderie is continuing for the second such event.
“I think people are thirsty for coffee with a little bit more soul,” said Benjamin Chauvin, founder and owner of Rockford Roasting Co. “That’s something that a lot of the local shops can offer.”
Each shop in the area has their own take on what they’re looking to showcase, whether that’s cold brew drinks with whip cream or farmer specific varietals and unique roasts from different parts of the world.
“That’s part of the beauty of being able to have a locally run business,” Chauvin said. “Each company ends up having the voice of the people running it – whether that’s an owner or the baristas … Part of the beauty of a community like Rockford is that there’s obviously a number of tastes represented and no lack of options when you’re looking for what kind of coffee you’re looking to enjoy.”
You can start the crawl at any of the locations and pick up a passport to collect stamps. If you collect at least four stamps you’re entered to win a gift basket with special merchandise, gift cards and other goodies.
“It’s harder for a small shop to do a lot of the things the bigger places do, and I just feel like it’s always better to collaborate with others than to look at each other like competition,” Weiser said. “We all sell a different product. All of our coffee isn’t the same, the (flavors) we put in our coffee isn’t the same. … I just feel like it’s always good to send people other places, too.”
Simpson said those who don’t drink coffee will still have plenty to choose from with the great pastries, sandwiches, desserts and merchandise that many of the shops offer. There are also non-caffeinated drinks and sweet treats for those arriving at different locations late in the day.
“So you can have all the flavor and fun of a vanilla latte or any of these specialty drinks that you know and love made totally decaffeinated,” Chauvin said.
The event was expanded to two days to give more time for crawlers to hit each location, especially with the territory expanding into Rockton and Pecatonica.
“We don’t want people bouncing off the walls after one day of espresso shots,” Simpson said. “We want to give you two days to get up to northern Winnebago County and western Winnebago County … We wanted to just stretch it out and make sure people had time to get every stamp on their passport.”
If you go | Rockford Coffee Crawl 2025
When: Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12
Info: Go HERE
Participating locations
- Rosie’s Coffee Co., 507 Main St., Pecatonica
- Inzombia Coffee, 306 E. State St., Rockford
- My Cafè Amorè, 125 E. State St. suite E, Cherry Valley
- Meg’s Daily Grind, 1141 N. Alpine Road and 3879 N. Perryville Road, Rockford
- Rockford Roasting Co., 416 S. Main St., Rockford
- Wired Cafe, 414 E. State St., Rockford
- alMoka Coffee House, 753 Highgrove Place, Rockford
- DeeDee’s Main Street Coffee and Decor, 101 W. Main St., Rockton
- Hearthrock Cafe, 1100 11th St., Rockford
Photo challenge
If you take photos on your stops and post to social media with the hashtag #RCC2025 in you could win a gift basket. The post with the most likes and shares will win.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
