A local bar owner says all they can do during the Alert Level 5 lockdown is stay positive and get ready to re-open.
On Friday, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald sent the province back to Alert Level 5, meaning all retail stores, restaurants, bars, lounges and personal service establishments like hair salons have been forced to shut their doors.
That’s created struggles for most business owners, including those in the live music industry as even when they were open, it was only at half-capacity.
Donny Maher owns the Black Sheep on George Street, a home to live music throughout the week. He says having already been through one lockdown, all they can really do is shut down, do some cleaning and prepare to open once again.
Maher says they had musicians coming in and were starting to be known as a live music venue with lots of diverse music before the shutdown. He can’t believe he’s saying he cannot wait to get back to just half capacity, but right now, all they can do is hope they can open again soon.
Maher teases to stay-tuned as they’re working on live streaming music that will help both musicians and the bar.
Meanwhile, The Canadian Live Music Association has launched #ForTheLoveOfLIVE, an awareness campaign to bring attention to the damage COVID-19 shutdowns have caused Canada’s live music industry.