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Fragile times to keep entertainment venues open as Covid hits cities | Health

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When the Covid lockdown began, Jeff and Jamie Weeks, owners of Calacino’s Pizzeria and Sports Bar in Beckley, had no idea the threat to their business would become so severe.

“We haven’t seen a steady or slow decline in customers at all before,” Jeff said. “It was business as usual and then everything stopped in one day.”

Calacino’s has a big live music weekend planned, and when everything is closed, the March Madness will begin.

“Live music and sports are a big part of our business,” Jeff said. “When both of those disappeared, we knew we were in trouble.”

Before the pandemic, Calacino’s had live music or karaoke four nights a week.

“We even tried to get a band in to record a show that was aired online when we were closed, but the ABCA (West Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority) simply wouldn’t let them in the building,” Jeff said.

“As far as food goes, it was just picked up at the door for a while.”

Even key employees struggle to retain employees because they can make more money out of unemployment if they don’t tip customers, Jeff said.

“We even tried rotating the servers for a while to keep things fair to everyone, but we ended up having to completely shut down for a few months.”

Calacino uses partial downtime for retrofit.

“The escalation was a tough decision because we weren’t sure if and when things would return to normal,” Jeff said. “But we’ve built this place on live entertainment, and we’re determined to be stronger than ever.”

Operating a music venue was a very chaotic time when restrictions started to be lifted.

“At first, we were only allowed to serve restaurant customers outside at 25 percent capacity,” Jeff said. “Then it became 50 percent internal capacity with six feet between tables.”

But live music was still not allowed for a while.

“When restrictions finally allow music to return, it can only be outside, and it’s just a duo,” Jeff said. “The problem now is that it’s too cold at night to go out.”

But they didn’t give up. Calacino brought tents and even large space heaters.

“People are ready to go out and watch live music,” Jeff said. “They’ll sit outside around the heater and their own blankets.”

They went through several stages of confinement, building plexiglass barriers, moving musicians, and even for a while the musicians had to face outside to play with all the fans inside watching their backs.

But Karasino followed all the guidelines and fought through hard times. When live music restrictions were lifted, venues were already struggling as much as musicians.

“Bands play at a lower price just because they’re happy to be in front of an audience,” Jeff said. “We did the best we could before we got back on our feet, and we also emphasized to our customers the importance of tipping musicians. This is a difficult time for all of us.”

To get live music into their venues, some venues have taken a very different approach to complying with the rapidly changing rules.

“Plexiglass barriers were built in several places and moved the crowd 20 feet away from the stage,” said Clinton Scott from Untrained Professionals. “It’s like singing in a box.”

But Scott is ready to get back on stage, playing regardless of the rules.

For some time, the ABCA and the Department of Health have had more relaxed restrictions on outdoor seating than indoor seating. For this reason, many venues have created temporary outdoor seating. The changes ranged from tents and plywood structures to makeshift plastic fencing. Once cleared, the ABCA will allow alcohol to be brought into these areas for the first time. For a business that is already operating at full capacity, all of this just adds to the cost.

Not every venue is just about piecing something together quickly. Some people take the time to build something nice. When the Lansing Canyoning team built a wooden structure to house their plexiglass barrier, they were proud of it. It’s beautifully crafted, stained and easy to view.

“If you had to watch it, I guess they wanted it to be pretty,” said Matt Mullins from Matt Mullins and Bringdowns. “The canyon view there is beautiful, and they certainly didn’t screw it up with the trash barrier.”

Some venues handle things very differently.

The Mad Hatter Club in Beckley is a small venue that often offers live music, performing arts performances and video poker.

“We were shutting down immediately during the lockdown, filing for unemployment and deferring any payments as much as possible,” owner Stephanie Rose Bragg said. “Fortunately, I have some savings and will be able to help my staff until I start getting some checks.”

The Mad Hatter reopened with permission, but made no attempt to restore live music until all restrictions were lifted.

“We had to put barriers between each poker machine, and we built a small outdoor area that had never been allowed before,” Bragg said. “We also had to switch from glassware to single-use plastics. All of that added cost, and we were at half the capacity.”

At that time, the capacity of the Mad Hatter was only 30 people.

When restrictions started to lift, Shady Spring’s The Watering Hole got creative with their already small space.

“We closed off an old porch and hung a shower curtain,” said co-owner Chrissy Hall. “ABCA knew us very well, and the musicians were able to play behind the scenes.” Half of the watering hole was 15 people at the time. They’ve built an outdoor seating area so they’ll be better prepared if something like this happens again.

With restrictions lifted, Fosters Main Street Tavern has its own unique set of hurdles to overcome. During the shutdown, two buildings in downtown Beckley collapsed across the street and the entire block was sealed off.

“Without street traffic, on-street parking, or even foot traffic, it’s simply not worth fighting all the regulations,” said owner Buzz Burke, affectionately known by the community as Buzzy.

“We may have been able to deal with Covid restrictions or street closures individually, but taken together, it’s overkill,” Buzzy said.

With restrictions lifted, the rules have changed so many times that it’s hard to keep up. What can be done on Wednesday night can be banned by Friday, creating countless scheduling problems. Venue owners, booking agents and band members all try to keep up, but it’s easy to get frustrated or even angry.

“They told us that Covid-19 is not airborne, and they also asked us to build barriers and cover with plastic sheets,” said Mike Turner, general manager of Skyline Lodge, Pub & Grill, Ghent. These restrictions are more about government than security.”

Skyline even built a separate enclosed stage to keep musicians away from customers.

“But the ABCA closed it because it was so close to our building that they thought it was a structure,” Turner said.

But fans are more concerned with entertainment than restrictions.

“The first time we did a live show at 50% capacity were untrained professionals, and the people we had to turn around and leave were just wandering around buildings and parking lots so they could hear the music. For them, Listening to the band is more important than being part of the crowd.”

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