The Final Night of the San Angelo Bar Scene

SAN ANGELO, TX — Friday at 11:59 p.m., every bar in Texas has to be shutdown. That means tonight in San Angelo, it’s the last chance to tip your favorite bartender at Fiddlestrings, have a tasty appetizer with a cold rocket of Coors Light at Shenanigans, or to visit with the regulars — the old farts — who solve the world’s problems at the long table in the back of Blaine’s Pub. What is worse, tonight, only 50 total people are allowed by an emergency City of San Angelo proclamation to occupy any bar. Governor Abbott’s four executive orders were issued yesterday that closed every restaurant dining area, bar and gym in Texas, lest we all become infected carriers of the dreadful Chinese Flu. Yet, until the end of today, bars are open, but only 50 people can be inside one.

Derrick Hoffman and his wife Jeanna own and manage Shenanigan’s Sports bar located in the shopping center on the northeast corner of Sherwood Way at Arden Road. Early this afternoon, Assistant Police Chief Tracy Fincher paid the bar a visit. Derrick said the assistant police chief heard that Shenanigan’s was breaking the current rule of 50 people maximum. Fincher wanted to make sure the owners knew the police are expecting Shenanigan’s to enforce the rule.

When Shenanigan’s is running at full tilt, Derrick said he has 40 on staff — bartenders, wait staff and cooks — to run the joint. If he was running at full capacity tonight with the 50-person limit, he’d only be able to let in 10 patrons. As late as 4 p.m. this afternoon, he was still trying to determine how many employees he can have working at the bar tonight.

Meanwhile, Shay, his manager, was parked at Shenanigan’s front door counting guests. It wasn’t even 5 p.m. yet and Shenanigan’s was allowing one person in only if another person left. They’d already reached their 50-person limit.

Barstools are going to be scarce tonight.

Over at Blaine’s Pub, owner Cody Sturm markets his bar as a live music venue. For now, the music has died. No show is scheduled for tonight. For next weekend, he canceled the Bri Bagwell show, and Bagwell is a big deal. With an image not known for their compliance with authority, the Blaine’s crowd will be muted for the coronavirus shutdown and Sturm isn’t happy. Before the serious nature of the spread of the disease became widely known, Sturm pledged disobedience to the coronavirus rules. “F— the city!” he said. However, with coronavirus sightings all around, even Sturm is counting heads tonight. With only 50 people inside Blaine’s on a Friday night, the party will be even more “up close and personal.”

“Hell, I might go until 2 a.m. in the morning. Let them come shut me down,” Sturm said in a last gasp of defiance against the new restrictions. He wasn’t that serious, though.

Assistant Chief Fincher told us he visited some of the more popular drinking establishments in town today to ask for their help in voluntarily enforcing the 50-person limit.

“I fear it’s going to be a madhouse tonight,” Fincher said. He runs the patrol division of the San Angelo Police Department — the police officers citizens are most likely to encounter. Whether it’s a traffic stop or a uniformed officer is dispatched to investigate a minor crime a reported by a citizen, it’s a patrol division cop under Fincher. His guys and gals are on the front line and the most visible.

On any given weekend night, there are likely 3000-4000 regular barflies rotating around the various bars in town. San Angelo is a serious drinkers’ city, where many have staked out their favorite bar and a favorite spot inside their favorite bar. If you do the math, with the 50-person restriction, there are only 500 seats in the top 10 bars in San Angelo. What happens when that barstool in inaccessible because there are already 50 people inside one’s favorite bar?

Fincher fears they’ll be outside and that may lead to out-of-control problems. One problem he wants to avoid is being forced to empty a bar for going over the 50-person limit. He said the City of San Angelo Code Compliance officials will be out patrolling too.

“We are hoping to create an atmosphere of voluntary compliance,” Fincher said. That is why he said he personally visited several of the more popular bars to make contact with the owners.

San Angelo bar owners are used to enforcing unpopular rules. For Sturm and Hoffman, like all bar owners in the state, they already deal with the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission’s restrictions. The State Laws are such that when one becomes an entrepreneur owning a bar, the bar owner signs up to be the babysitter of the city’s drunks, accountable for laws against over-serving and expected to cut off drinks to patrons.

Hoffman hopes the police watch the restaurants tonight, too. “Tell me you can run Texas Roadhouse with less than 40 employees tonight,” he quipped. That would mean no more than 10 patrons if the restaurant stays within the 50-person restriction. Hoffman used to run the Outback Steakhouse. He knows.

“I wish they’d give the restaurants as much scrutiny as they give bars,” he said.

After 11:59 p.m. tonight, none of this will matter. All bars and restaurants are ordered closed until April 3.