There’s no sugarcoating it. COVID-19 has been the catalyst for a nightmare year. Bars and restaurants were and continue to be among the hardest hit. In the second month of new mitigations, many plan to voice their concerns at a rally on Dec. 19.
Too soon?
A prevailing attitude among Springfield bar and restaurant owners is that the first shutdown came too early for central Illinois. “We followed all the rules at the beginning,” said Ryan Bandy, owner of Win, Lose, or Draught in Springfield and vice president of CILBA (Central Illinois Licensed Beverage Association). “It got really frustrating in early April into May and June, because we didn’t really have any big outbreaks in our area but were still shut down. The governor decided to be overly cautious, which was his prerogative, but it didn’t work.”
“This all started after the governor put out all these warnings not to go out on St. Patrick’s weekend, and then all these pictures and videos came out showing people partying in the street and at bars in Chicago,” Bandy continued. “Then he closed everything down the day before St. Patrick’s Day. To me, it felt like he was punishing the whole class.”
The first shutdown was rough, but state and federal aid provided sustainability for owners and employees. Rent, utilities and other bills weren’t going anywhere, but there was a support system. Businesses closed and waited.
Attempting a comeback
Outdoor service was permitted beginning May 29. Businesses adapted. At the end of June, customers were allowed back indoors at 50% capacity.
Restrictions were frequently frustrating. “The rules and regulations, they change every week. You figure out a way to work with them, and then they change again,” said Brian Shirley, owner of Harry’s Adult Daycare in Springfield. “It’s like, where does it stop?”
There was a gradual return to something like normality. Employees were happy to be back at work, especially after enhanced unemployment benefits expired at the end of July.
Chris Hanken, owner of several businesses in Sangamon County, was amazed by the outpouring of support upon reopening at the end of May. “Our customers? Wow! Talk about a community,” he recalled. “We had people at Public House 29 and Lake Pointe Grill who used to come in once a week coming in three or four times a week, and people who used to come in once a month were coming three or four times a month.”
Round two
Nov. 1, Gov. Pritzker announced new mitigations, banning indoor service. Despite Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder’s attempt to find a way to circumvent the gubernatorial order, the majority of businesses complied.
Owners felt like scapegoats. “That’s what the frustrating thing is on this,” said Mike Monseur, co-owner of nine DEW Chili Parlor and Godfather’s Pizza locations and president of CILBA. “COVID is real. We get it. We understand, and that’s why we’ve spent a fortune on keeping customers and employees safe, and yet we’re told that we’re to blame for all this.”
Ebben Moore, owner of Arlington’s in downtown Springfield, thinks it unreasonable that bars and restaurants be in the spotlight: “When you walk into a bar or restaurant, everything you touch has been sanitized, and you’ve got staff staying on top of that. There’s no one in aisle 17 doing that. Nobody’s constantly cleaning the gas pump handles.”
While owners capitulated during the first shutdown, this second round of mitigations was harder to swallow. They feel blamed for the spread of the virus but want to be part of the solution.
“During the first shutdown, bars and restaurants were with it,” said Monseur. “We didn’t like it, but we were with it. When you shut things down, you drive people to other avenues like private parties and house gatherings. That’s where spikes are happening. Why not let us be part of the solution by giving people an option to go someplace that’s sanitized by professional staff who have been trained in safety aspects, instead of spreading to these other large gatherings where it’s unsupervised?”
Bandy cited statistics released by the Illinois Department of Public Health to support Monseur’s assertions: “Bars and restaurants are 6.52% (of Illinois Region 3 COVID exposure locations as of Dec. 5). That’s our exposure contribution, and we deal with 100% of the mitigation.” The breakdown of these statistics can be found at https://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19/location-exposure?regionID=3
Among the disheartening impacts owners face during this second round of mitigations is the absence of enhanced unemployment benefits for their employees.
“I get calls from my staff daily, and I try to tell them things will be OK, but I just don’t know,” Monseur said. “Elected officials are fighting a PR war, and they’re trying to show the general public that they are doing something – that they are taking action and shutting these places down. And that’s frustrating, because it feels like we’re being used. I don’t know what the endgame is. It seems like everyone is so dug in that they won’t look at it in a different way. It’s their way or no way, and it’s the workers who suffer. ”
“It’s not about making money right now,” Moore explained. “It’s about having the money to pay your staff, and that’s what they don’t think about. The people I had to let go have kids and families and mortgages. I don’t know why one job is more important than the other, but it certainly seems to be.”
Some see hope in vaccine availability. Mike Zerkle, co-owner of Anvil & Forge Brewing & Distilling Company in Springfield said, “I think [the vaccine] will be a large step forward in combating the pandemic. I’ve always had faith in our community. We will get through this thing together.”
Frustration endures. “Bars and restaurants have been singled out,” said Josh Flanders, co-owner of Buzz Bomb Brewing Co. in Springfield. “They are a potential source of virus spread, but so are schools and churches and other places where people gather together. I think the real reason is it’s easier to get people to accept bars and restaurants being shut down.”
Harry’s owner Brian Shirley agrees: “I feel like there are people that are getting tested and are asked, ‘Well, where have you been?’ And they’re more likely to say they went to such-and-such bar the other day than they would to say, ‘Well, I went to all these other places,’ where they go all the time. We get the backlash from that more than the others.”
Trying to find a balance
Owners see a silver lining. “I feel like we as an industry have come together more now than we ever have before,” said Bandy. “There’s such camaraderie between local businesses. I actually feel less alone than I ever have before, being a small business owner here in central Illinois.”
This sense of unity is ubiquitous in the Central Illinois Licensed Beverage Association. “We’ve brought the industry together,” explained Monseur. “If there’s one good thing that came from all this, it’s that now one of the biggest industries in our area has a voice. All too often, I’d talk to elected officials, and I’d be so frustrated. The comment I got back a lot was, ‘If you guys would get your act together, you would be listened to. But we know you’re not united, so you’re not listened to that much.'”
“My biggest thing is that there’s two sides to every story,” said Will Hoecker, owner of multiple Springfield restaurants. “I just wanna get our side out. I’m not asking to go full-fledged 100%. At some point, the cure becomes worse than the disease…it’s having massive catastrophic effects on people.”
CILBA plans a peaceful “Save Our Jobs Rally” outside the Governor’s Mansion on Dec. 19. They plan an “Eat-In” at 1 p.m., in which they urge supporters to bring food bought at local businesses to eat on the sidewalk surrounding the mansion, followed by a rally on the Y-block in front. They ask that attendees wear masks while not eating and that they avoid using vulgar signage or language. Details can be found on the CILBA43 Facebook page.
“We’re asking for the community to come support us and to stand with us and to help us save jobs in these small businesses,” said Monseur. “We’re the same people who have been helping in our community for years, and we were happy to do it. Lately, though, a lot of us have felt like we’re standing alone, and we’re asking people not to forget us.”
Ebben Moore summarized the argument for reopening: “I get it. You get 300 people together (inside a bar), and they’re not wearing masks? That’s gonna be a problem. We’re not asking for 300. We’re asking for 30. Then we can survive it until the vaccine comes out or the numbers drop. Places have to have something, or they’re gonna close permanently. Once everybody’s closed, it’s gonna just be a bunch of people coming off unemployment and no jobs.”
Jay Wheeler is a Springfield transplant from the Chicago suburbs. He is a freelance writer and bar manager. Contact him at jaywheeler882@gmail.com.
This article appears in Springfield dreams.
