Bradenton area bars may reopen on Friday. Local bar owners couldn’t be happier
Frustration among Bradenton area bar owners over continuing COVID restrictions turned to jubilation following Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Wednesday announcement that bars can reopen Friday.
“Thank God, I really thought they would keep us closed. I just hope that everybody can go forward now,” said Bobby Tingler, who, with his wife, Darla, has owned the Anchor Inn Bar and Lounge since 1985.
“We will do whatever it takes to comply with reopening rules,” said Tingler, whose bar is located at 3007 Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach. “Bar owners and bar tenders are professionals. We have to be responsible every day of our lives. I am a no-nonsense guy and I go by the law. This is behind us now, and I am going forward.”
Many businesses were ordered closed statewide in March to slow the spread of the pandemic, but retailers, restaurants and hotels were allowed to begin reopening in early May.
Lifting the bar restriction was critical for bar owners. Limited to-go sales of mixed drinks and package sales, many said they were on the brink of being forced out of business, and complained they were being unfairly singled out.
Joe Harris and his 88-year-old father, Sid Harris, were prime movers in asking elected officials to end the lock-down on bars. They own Papa Joe’s Sports Bar at 1242 Whitfield Ave.
Joe Harris helped organize a petition drive and a May 18 sign-waving demonstration along Manatee Avenue by bar workers demanding that bars be allowed to reopen.
“I think it is terrible. They open everything else. We have lives, too. When they reopened the spas and gyms, they never mentioned bars,” Sid Harris said, prior to DeSantis’ announcement on Wednesday.
Joe Harris said he was able to keep several workers on the job with the help of the PPP program (personal paycheck protection).
“This is the last week of PPP. I will continue to pay them out of my own pocket,” Joe Harris said previously.
But that won’t be necessary now that business can restart.
“Thank God, I am so happy,” Harris said.
“We will be ready to reopen and we will probably have to turn people away. It’s a major relief,” Harris said.
Harris and Tingler said the lockdown not only endangered businesses, it also hurt workers who depend on paychecks to pay rent and buy food.
“It put a lot of people out of work, and it cost me a lot of money. It has caused stress and depression. I understood the need for a lockdown for the first month and a half,” Tingler said.
The governor’s stay-at-home orders helped produce 23,146 COVID-related unemployment assistance claims in Manatee County, nearly 13 percent of the county’s labor pool of 179,993, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity website.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 5:08 PM.
