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.

Monday marked Umoja, the first day of Kwanzaa, which is a weeklong holiday.

Participants say they hope the crawl boosted the businesses the crawl passed through.