Going home early? You're a Halloweenie
Time change means an extra hour tonight before the bars must close
By David Holley / The Bulletin
Published: October 31. 2009 4:00AM PSTDon't get tricked this Halloween: When the clock strikes 2 a.m. Sunday and you think your favorite bar is about to close, look again — your Halloween celebration is being extended.
Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m., which means bars and their patrons get an extra hour of partying on All Hallows Eve.
On the first Sunday in November, most citizens in the U.S. roll their clocks back one hour for the resumption of standard time. Then, most spring ahead by an hour on the second Sunday of March.
This year, the time change happens to fall on Halloween night (technically two hours after Oct. 31, but that's irrelevant for late-night celebrants).
Halloween is one of the year's busiest nights for bars, according to some local watering holes. Add the extra hour, plus a weekend night, and businesses are in for a treat.
Most bars make their last calls for serving drinks between 1 and 2 a.m., and then ensure all customers are out the door by 2:30 a.m., the latest it is legal to sell alcohol in Oregon.
But because the time change is adding another hour between last call and the cut-off time, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission has said it is entirely legal for bars to stay open the extra hour. “Now people will get an extra hour of being able to sell alcohol,” said Katy Boyce, interim manager of the Bend OLCC office.
It's up to each individual bar whether to stay open.
Some owners and bartenders said their establishments will take full advantage of the additional time to sell drinks.
Others plan to call it quits without exploiting the extra hour, fearful of patrons who might drink too much and the antics that could ensue.
“It just spells trouble,” said Nicole Tonnesen, a bartender at JC's Bar and Grill in downtown Bend. Tonnesen said her managers told staff they would run a normal shift and not stay open for another hour, to prevent overserving customers. “I think they'd rather be safe than sorry.”
For Tim Long, one of the owners of Boondocks Bar and Grill downtown, it wouldn't make sense to close “early,” he said. More than 900 people came through Boondocks' door on Halloween last year, Long said.
“Halloween is our biggest night of the year,” he said. “We're going to stay open as long as the law allows.”
Long is expecting an even bigger crowd this year. Plus, the extra hour will make up for March, when time rolled forward from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. and he lost selling time.
Chris Pate — a 27-year-old landscaper who on Thursday night was having a drink at Corey's Bar and Grill, a downtown bar that will not stay open for the extra hour — plans to go out tonight.
Pate said he'll probably start early and leave the bars before the time switches. But he thinks others will take full advantage of the extra drinking time.
“People will get that mentality in their head that it's going to happen,” he said. “Honestly, it's the one day they can do that, so they'll take advantage of it.”
Janet Ainardi said she imagines she'll go out but wasn't sure whether she would make a full night of it.
“It depends on how good the night shapes up,” she said.
Cabs and cops will be out in force.
Reid Nichols, assistant manager of Bend Cab Co., said Halloween is the company's second-busiest night of the year, after New Year's Eve. On a typical night, the company runs about eight cabs, but it plans to double that number tonight.
“We'll have all our drivers running around to make sure we have everyone taken care of as fast as humanly possible,” Nichols said.
The Bend Police Department plans to make some extra officers available. However, Halloween is typically a pretty civil night, said Steve Esselstyn, community liaison for the department.
Many of the bars plan to wait and see what happens. Managers at The Blacksmith and D & D Bar & Grill said they would stay open if business is good and things aren't too crazy.
“It really depends on how the night goes,” said Stacy Caito, night manager at D & D. “It's a play-by-ear thing.”
David Holley can be reached at 541-383-0323 or at dholley@bendbulletin.com.
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