As Gainesville schools and colleges canceled classes ahead of Hurricane Hermine, Gainesville bars prepared for those celebrating Thursday night.
Bars, including 101 Cantina, The Swamp Restaurant, Salty Dog Saloon and Tall Paul’s Brew House, remained open despite Alachua County’s tropical storm warning.
By 5 p.m. Thursday, Tall Paul’s had a full house, said Mandy Hill, an employee.
“We know that we’re gonna be busy, and people are still gonna want to come out,” she said, struggling to be heard over background noise.
At 101 Cantina, employees planned to serve as long as there were customers. While the weather was stormy, Jarrid Bernier, a manager, said the weather wasn’t any worse than the average thunderstorm.
Bernier said several of his friends planned to celebrate the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in more than 10 years. By late afternoon, they had steady business. A sorority tab was still scheduled for the night.
“If people are going to come out and celebrate the hurricane, we’re gonna be open,” he said.
At Salty Dog Saloon, Cody Hill and Chris Pate, both 22, planned on staying late into the night for a hurricane party to celebrate the cancellation of UF classes.
Hill, a UF senior in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, had stocked up on water and canned green beans prior, he said. He played pool with Pate as they waited out the storm.
“It’s been a long week,” Pate, a UF business senior, said.
