Right around the time taverns in Hudson and following suit, North Hudson, curtailed their hours to a midnight closing, (now expired), Pierce County and the City of New Richmond without fanfare lifted their 25 percent capacity rules, allowing a full bar.
Furthermore in late April, as a possible paradox, St. County officially chimed in for perhaps the first and most meaningful time by enacting their own 25 percent rule, and then Minnesota took the ball right away in May with their own decree, for the first time in ages allowing full capacity at all the places people congregate. And there were times when that age thing and the IDs that could hold sway between the two states and was the main thing at issue, remember then? But the short version is that all bars in western Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota and beyond are now back full throttle as far as when they have to close. Furthermore, very few of the places in St. Croix County ever get above the 25-percent limit anyway, except on a very busy night on a weekend, when social distancing should have covered that base anyway. Whatever the case, the capacity rule is typically being followed just as little as the face mask decree.
At the height of these closings and reopenings, people had the option of bolting past Hudson and continuing to head dead eastward to places that often have their own specialties in music and beyond, bars in Roberts, Hammond, Baldwin/Woodville, and angling a bit northernly, Boardman/Burkhardt, or
River Falls, straddling the line to be in both counties, is its own animal, so in practice their reopening did not roll out uniformally.Virtually all the bars are on the Pierce County side. Also at play within all these matters is the circumstance that state, county and local rules may be at odds as far as which takes precedence. Ask my buddy who is almost living (and not only After Midnight) and dying for his beloved karaoke, and taking center stage is the offering of what can include open mic, which is a completely different animal, at Ziggy’s in Hudson on Tuesdays, coming and going with what is closing time for hours, and masks and distancing. And Ziggy’s has (frequently?) retooled its before-full-band players and times/days performing for almost all other nights, as they can be a one-man act that also entails Country Boy and Piano Man. But all openness seemed to focus on the idea that people from the Minneapolis area would close down the joints in their backyard, then come over here. Why the difference, in part, between Badger and Gopher, and I have to say its TLC: multiple Tavern League Considerations that make for political power almost as much as stimulus check debates, (conveyed over many a Miller and Milwaukee’s Old and Best?) A side note to the where and when of offerings, like their snack sides: Ziggy’s has places in Hudson and Stillwater.
How do we see this bi-state, or Tri-State, battle play out in real terms, especially if you are a guy, and his ride. Getting The Doors egged, allegedly more than a dozen of the orbs, while along the St. Croix in Lakefront Park? Much more a vandals paradise then on the Minnesota side, depite the I must say needed efforts at extra patrolling by local cop shops, who are veering toward and looming more toward that end of city and village — and town? — affairs, and also the affluent enclaves? Much more commentary on this soon on this site, (and I will try to follow through on this promise “more-on” past rate of success than at some previous junctures, most notably on the opening day and going forward MLB stuff prompted by local sports bar airings, to build up what another buddy of mine calls the domestic “moron-athon.”
But now back to basics.
Hut how the new rules are playing out, from town to town:
— On the Sunday before the midnight no-serve curfew was lifted, the crowd at Dick’s Bar had more Twin Citians than regulars, but the gap was closing. There was a Cities guy chatting-up Andrea, Emma was dancing up a storm with Karis, as in the wings were two men who slimply never dance, Tom and Dan, and in the aisle next to them Garret and Alice held court. A couple who had worked at Dick’s stopped in for the first time in six years, making one thinking what for weeks had been a very uptempo crowd was a draw.This was aid to have picked up the pace once more from the prevsious Sunday. That’s about it. A longtime bouncer said he was happy not needing to scan the crowd to intervene before there might be a fight.
— In River Falls, the Nutty Squirrel hosted the first of its killer, yearlong karaoke contests, that was thrown together faster than a Slayer song when the word got out. It had Cinco De Mayo nailed with its drink specials. Just up the block, most noticably, the BX Mexican place was still late-night lights out.
— A newbie came into Starr’s Bar in North Hudson in early May, around what had been their closing time several days earlier, bought a round for at least half those in the horseshoe, then in short order walked out again. The opposite end that offers various games had been seeing sparse numbers of players, on days when midnight was the final whistle. The bars appeared to be making their best hay when there were fewer patrons, but they were big spenders. Another effect going back a full year, was that when there have been bands, their venues have not wanted to advertise the fact, as they are in a Catch 22 of not really wanting to push attendence higher. But the actual-out-the-door closing push has been less urgent when the rule is dictated by their management, not the government. The same could be likely in some bergs eastward where there is no local police department, since the county sheriff’s deputies can’t be everywhere.
— Bars in west-central Pierce County have greeted the latest change back to full capacity with a new presence of bands, and the way was led by some venues celebrating their anniversaries. However, many servers were not fully aware of the reversion and how it was effecting their holding of special events, and if agents of government had made an official noticfiation to the venues. But many New Richmond sources say they will be charging ahead more quickly and fully with music.
— Across the river at Sgt. Peppers in Oakdale, karaoke will be back on during Thursday nights, but moving into position slowly, even though they again have the option of staying open to 1 a,m. More typically, is a shutdown of the bar as early as 11 p.m., depending on their often diminished customer volume. It’s a popular place for some Hudsonites, as the traffic goes both ways, as do many servers when they commute to work.
And new from Saturday Night Almost Live: Dick’s was again Strangers In A Strange Land, Hudson Tap was quite full early and included All The Young Dudes in the back pool area before traffic as their usual quickly thinned out, and Ziggy’s showed the most diversity I have seen for this area and not just Black people but a group of Asian women that’s something atypical for Hudson. I see that as a good thing, as we broaden to others than the usual Caucasian white folk. But there was heightened security at the door that at Dick’s even included a search for weapons with a wand.
But then on Sunday night, things as far as the crowd that was gathering hedged toward a sense of normalcy, if you can use that term to reference a bar.