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August 13, 2021

Bar and other city venues roll out new vaccine card rules to mixed response

Photo | Liese Klein Bar on Crown Street with new vaccination-verification rules posted on the door.
By Liese Klein

Tonight at 9:30 p.m. the beer will start pouring, the music will start pumping and the bouncers will start checking vaccination cards for the first time at Bar in New Haven.

The Friday dance party will be the debut outing for the controversial new vaccination verification policy at Bar, a popular pizza restaurant and club on Crown Street downtown. 

Owner Frank Patrick announced on social media Monday that starting Friday, Bar would require either a proof of vaccination for COVID-19 or a negative COVID test within 72 hours for entry to the popular dance party, using the hashtag “#keepthepartygoing.” 

Response at first to the announcement was mostly negative, Patrick said. Nearly a thousand comments have been posted so far on Facebook, many of them decrying the move as a violation of privacy and personal freedom. 

“Now the tide has turned, a lot of people are really applauding it,” Patrick said. “We’re getting a ton of support.” In addition, Bar staff members tracked some of the most negative social media comments and found they were coming from outside of Connecticut. 

Patrick wanted to give his patrons a week to process the new rules, meant to protect patrons especially on the dance floor. “It gets so crazy,” he said of the dance parties, held on Friday and Saturday nights. 

With COVID-19 cases surging in the state, New Haven-area music venues including College Street Music Hall and the Space Ballroom announced similar rules this week. 

Manic Presents, the operator of both venues, said it was partnering with the Bindle digital health platform to allow concert-goers to present proof of vaccination or negative COVID tests on their phones. Other patrons can bring their vaccination card or digital proof of a negative test. 

“Thank you for your support in helping us keep all concert goers, artists and our staff safe,” Manic Presents said in a statement. 

Hartford’s The Bushnell theater said on Thursday it would require proof of vaccination from patients until Oct. 31.

The recent COVID-19 surge has had additional impacts this week: The Closer to Free Ride, a major cycling fundraiser for Yale New Haven Health cancer services, announced it would go virtual again this year after planning for an in-person event. 

Organizers said, “We have been watching the recent progression of COVID-19 variants and cases in our area to ensure that it was indeed safe to hold our in-person ride. Based on the recent data and guidance from our medical team at Yale New Haven Health, we have made the difficult decision to return to a fully virtual ride for 2021.”

Patrick of Bar said he hopes the surge passes soon so he can roll back the new requirements. 
“Right now we’re just being very cautious,” Patrick said. “It’s going to be trial and error.”

Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.

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