Taps flow again in Fort Worth’s West 7th district as state tweaks alcohol sales rule
Pink and purple spotlights are twisting from the ceiling. Drinks are flowing from cocktail shakers as neon signs snap on. Music pulses.
On Norwood Street in Fort Worth’s West 7th District, 50 Cent thunders from speakers as a bouncer watches people in the line before him search through pockets and purses for IDs and face masks.
“I’ll take you to the candy shop.”
As the novel coronavirus began to spread early this year, bar closures siphoned life and money from the district. As summer closes, fun, it appears, has returned to West 7th. Communicable disease seems far from top of mind.
None of the newly reopened businesses are, for the moment, bars, which remain closed under an executive order Gov. Greg Abbott has said was intended to tame COVID-19’s advance. They are restaurants, at least as demonstrated in sales affidavits and other documents owners have submitted to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
Under the executive order, businesses for which alcohol sales account for less than 51% of gross receipts may open. After the commission on Aug. 25 adopted emergency amendments to its rules, businesses that have not previously reported alcohol sales below 51% to the TABC were permitted to apply to qualify as a restaurant under the order and open.
A business with food service facilities must offer at least two entrees. A charcuterie board qualifies, a TABC notice explains.
Business that the TABC qualifies as restaurants are required to comply with social distancing and other health protocols mandated in the executive order. They must operate at 50% capacity.
Food service must operate during the time alcohol is served, but at night, most people appeared to be drinking.
If a business does not have a permanent area where food can be prepared and stored, it may work with a food truck to meet the restaurant designation.
Fort Worth’s Code Compliance Department has offered free inspections to confirm that new designated preparation areas meet sanitation requirements.
Streetside food vendor Allen Espree, who sells brisket and pulled pork near the heart of the West 7th District, said crowds had so far not returned in pre-coronavirus numbers.
And although his business is fueled in part by people looking for a bite to eat as they leave bars, Espree is unconvinced that sales reporting is wholly accurate. While occupancy regulations are not difficult to enforce, alcohol-food proportion records may be fraudulent, he suggested.
“Who’s to say if they’re charging people for drinks and marking it as food?” Espree asked.
On Friday night, all or nearly all business employees wore masks.
Nearly everyone who walked into a restaurant-bar wore a mask.
At Concrete Cowboy, at Crockett and Currie streets, there were short lines, in some cases because a bouncer was staggering admission. Some people wore masks in line, but nothing like the near-complete compliance while walking through doors.
The procedure there and at other businesses seems in some ways like a show. Wear a mask to get beyond a bouncer and inside, and after that it is up to you.
On Aug. 28, 107 people entered the Varsity Tavern between 10:50 p.m. to 11:20 p.m. As a reporter watched, 101 of them wore masks as they went in. Six did not. Some of the people without may have been reaching for a mask. An employee conducted forehead temperature checks.
Most of the people sitting at tables inside West 7th District bars and restaurants and in their outdoor areas do not wear masks. A Tarrant County executive order requiring that business insist patrons wear face coverings does not apply when a person is consuming food or a beverage.
Haley Jo Colley, 22, of Aledo, arrived on Friday night in the district with two friends. She said she was going for drinks for the first time since the pandemic emerged.
“Just a night out for the moms I guess,” she said. “We need somewhere to go. This is where we go.”
Colley said she had recovered from COVID-19 and knew it was possible to get it again. People who take precautions will be OK, she said.
“My whole thing on it is if you’re not scared of it, you’ll be fine,” she said. “If you get it, just don’t go around your elders.”
Then, the moms were off.
This story was originally published September 6, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
