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Bar owners debate Halloween policies
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by Darryl Schnell
Friday, September 16, 2005
As Halloween approaches, State Street taverns are responding to the City of Madison in preparation for a busy and potentially destructive night.
The city recently requested State Street alcohol establishments close at 2 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, as opposed to taking advantage of daylight-savings time and remaining open for business an additional hour. The request has received mixed reactions from bar owners.
"I don't have a problem with closing early," Hawk Schenkel, owner of Hawk's Bar and Grill, said. "It reduces us to a normal night instead of an extra hour, [so] if it'll help the city, I'll do it."
Schenkel said his bar gets so busy on Halloween that his employees would probably not welcome an extra hour of work, even though the hour would bring in substantial revenue.
"That's a compromise that bars are going to have to decide whether or not to make," he said.
Matt Goetsch, general manager of State Street Brats, said his establishment has other plans, citing revenue as one reason his tavern has no plans to close early on Halloween.
"We would close early any night if there would happen to be a disturbance we could not handle," he said. "But I shouldn't have to arbitrarily shut down if we can still provide a safe, fun environment."
Goetsch added it seems like city officials are just picking closing times randomly until they find a solution on which people can agree.
Both Schenkel and Goetsch said despite Halloween hijinks and rioting, their establishments have not been harmed, something for which Schenkel said he is grateful.
"All the other stores and buildings around my bar had broken windows or other damage two years ago," Schenkel said. "I guess I was lucky."
Goetsch, whose bar is on the consistently troubled 500 block of State Street, recalled the blazing tire from Halloween 2003.
"We've never been damaged, but that fire was right across the way at University Inn," Goetsch said. "We were fortunate to not have damage from that."
In dealing with possible Halloween damage, both Goetsch and Schenkel said they take a different approach than they take on any regular night.
Goetsch said State Street Brats had food stands selling hot dogs, brats and hamburgers outside the bar last year to give partiers something to eat.
"The food booths worked out well," Goetsch said. "We were giving the people something besides alcohol to put in their stomachs."
Goetsch said Brats stayed open later last Halloween, but only served food and nonalcoholic beverages to customers past bar time. Some people were confused, playing darts, hungry or just did not want to leave, according to Goetsch.
He said State Street Brats will take the same approach this year.
Schenkel also plans to stay at his tavern later than usual on Halloween. Though his bar will be closed, he and his staff have stayed late with the lights on in years past to make sure nobody and nothing damaged the bar.
"The staff and I usually stay for an hour or so and just watch," Schenkel said. "We like to make sure nothing big is going down before we leave."
