Hundreds of Texas bar owners plan to open Saturday as a statement to Gov. Abbott
As bar owners across Texas continue to struggle economically due to COVID-19 shutdowns, they say they plan to open Saturday to show they can safely reopen like the rest of the state.
Almost 800 bar owners across the state will participate in Freedom Fest, an event where bar owners will defy Abbott’s June 26 order that closed bars as the state’s coronavirus numbers surged.
In Tarrant County, Arlington’s G Willickers Pub, Burleson’s Cooter Brown’s, the Rail Club Live and Fort Worth’s the Eight Ball Billiard and Bar will participate. Bars from Houston, Pasadena and Sabinal also are scheduled to participate.
Chris Polone, owner of Fort Worth music venue The Rail Club Live, says he organized Freedom Fest to make the voices of bar owners heard and to show people that bars can open safely.
“If you can get every single bar to stand up in solidarity, well, that’s a statement that won’t be ignored,” Polone said.
Polone said it isn’t right that Abbott deemed bars as the place where COVID-19 spreads while other high-traffic service industry locations still operate. The most ideal situation is if Abbott allows bars to open with a set of safety guidelines that they must follow, he said.
On June 26, Abbott told KVIA-TV in El Paso that in hindsight it may have been better to slow the reopening of bars.
“If I could go back and redo anything, it would have probably been to slow down the opening of bars, now seeing in the aftermath of how quickly the coronavirus spread in the bar setting,” Abbott said in the interview. “And how a bar setting in reality just doesn’t work with a pandemic. People go to bars to get close and to drink and to socialize, and that’s the kind of thing that stokes the spread of the coronavirus.”
On the federal level, Judge Robert Pitman denied a request for a temporary restraining order the Texas Bar and Nightclub Association sought to stop Abbott from keeping bars closed, Fox 4 news reported.
Bars participating in Freedom Fest will host concerts and proceeds will go to a charity of their choosing. And while other locations may choose to sell drinks, The Rail Club Live will not.
Every participating bar must follow the event’s safety protocol, Polone said. This includes taking temperatures before entering a venue, maintaining social distancing, requiring face coverings and having hand sanitizer available.
At his own venue, Polone said a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved germicide will be fogged for extra safety.
“From the outside looking in, it looks like just a bunch of pissed-off bar owners, but in reality we’re trying to express how we could safely open,” he said.
While there is no strict enforcement of these protocols, every bar owner participating signed an agreement stating they would follow these rules and if someone doesn’t, Polone agrees they should be shut down as they’d be part of the problem.
Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission spokesman Chris Porter said in an email that the commission is aware of the bars that will illegally open on Saturday and they will be conducting their normal inspections. Businesses can face a 30-day suspension of their liquor license.
“TABC urges all businesses to follow the guidelines laid out by Gov. Abbott’s executive orders in order to maintain the safety of the business owners, their employees and customers,” Porter said.
Polone himself already had his liquor license suspended after a similar protest on July 4 called the Rail Club Tea Party, which protested the governor’s order. He currently has a hearing set for July 27.
Sonia Fennel, who manages G Willickers Pub in Arlington, said her bar is participating in the event because she wants Abbott to talk to bar owners, specifically on why bars were closed in Abbott’s June 26 order.
Fennel said there’s a double standard. People can go to restaurants, bowling alleys and carnivals, but bars have been deemed the place where people can catch COVID-19.
“You’re leaving us in no position other than to stand for what we believe in and what we do for a living,” she said.
Tara Worley, owner of Cooter Brown’s, said the first thing on their mind before opening on Saturday is public safety and then making sure the governor hears them.
“Our main goal is to hopefully prove to the governor that we deserve the chance at business like every other Texan,” Worley said.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 5:56 PM.
