FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Bar owners in Broward County held a rally in Fort Lauderdale Beach to reopen their businesses amid a surge of coronavirus cases throughout the state.
Rally attendees could be seen gathered outside of Elbo Room, at 241 S. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., Tuesday afternoon.
“Let’s just face it: people in the service business, they live sort of month to month, so three months is like a death sentence to them,” Pete Wood, a longtime customer of the bar, said. “They need to pay their bills. They got rent, car payments.”
The coronavirus shut the bar down, along with thousands of other businesses. Fifty employees and dozens of others, such as musicians, remain out of work, despite nearby restaurants reopening.
Much of the state has moved into Phase 2, which allows bars to open but not in South Florida.
“We deserve to work just as much as anybody else in this town,” bartender Katie Potgeter said.
“We really appreciate the love,” bartender Jarrett Apelquist said. “This place is built on that, and no one can wait to get back in this place and just be ourselves.”
Michele Penrod, the owner of the bar, remembers the exact date when the bar closed.
“March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, at five o’clock,” she said. “If you order an appetizer, you can sit there and drink all day, same with all the way down the rest of the street, so it just doesn’t seem fair that there’s about three or four businesses that are just standalone bars that aren’t allowed to open.”
She added that she has bought new tables and would keep customers safely distanced.
“We can even have it only outside,” Penrod said. “I wouldn’t care.”
Although the Elbo Room remains closed for the time being, its 82-year history remains alive wherever people look.
“Looking at them, it’s like, ‘I’ve missed that day. That day was so fun, and when are we going to have that day again?'” Penrod said.
It remains unclear when bars in South Florida will be allowed to reopen, which will come via an executive order from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office.
The Elbo Room’s owners said there is no chance they will close the establishment permanently, but she has only kept several employees on payroll.
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