Unification of Oregon District Bars
March 2nd, 2009 | Published in Past Summit Ideas | 1 Comment
Title: Unification of Oregon District Bars
Author: Allison Brown
The Idea:As a member of the Oregon District for 3+ years I have gotten to hear what visitors to the area say are the best and worst parts about it. The #1 complaint I hear is that every bar in the Oregon District charges a cover. Here’s the thing, when you drive all the downtown you are most likely going with a certain place in mind. However, once you have exhausted that bar you might want to bar hop. I have been in so many lines where people have stepped out of line and gone home because they didn’t want to pay another cover. My idea is to continue to have a universal cover charge that each bar agrees to (say $5). When you pay your cover you get a wrist band. This entitles you to get into every other bar in the Oregon District for free. This will end up helping the other bars because they will get customers that normally wouldn’t stick around and pay the extra money. They might not make a cover charge but they wi! ll make up for it in drink/food sales.
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April 4th, 2009at 7:43 pm(#)
Understandable proposal, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. Most bars don’t charge a cover unless a band is playing that night. They don’t use the cover as bar income, they use it to pay the performing bands and the sound guy. To charge the typical price of $5 for entry to all of the bars in the District, especially if there are multiple bars hosting bands, would dramatically decrease the bands’ profit. It would be nice for those of us bar-hopping, but for the sake of the local music scene, it probably won’t be plausible.