Superior Bars Find Business Over New Year’s Eve Weekend

SUPERIOR, Wis.– While bars in Minnesota remain closed for indoor service, the ones in Superior made the most out of New Year’s Eve.

Bars find business over New Year’s Eve weekend. In a normal year, the New Year’s Eve weekend is a time for friends to get together to say goodbye to the past year. But this time around, celebrations were impacted by the pandemic.

Palace Bar off Tower Ave in Superior has been seeing less and less of some of their regular customers. But the bar has been able to bridge the gap from those coming over the bridge from Duluth and beyond.

“I’d say at nights probably about 60 percent, 60-70 percent Minnesota. In our afternoons, early evenings, probably about 90 to 100 percent Minnesota,” Tony Erhardt, a bartender at Palace Bar.

A year ago at this time, the new year’s eve crowd at palace bar didn’t fill the establishment until around 11 that night but this year was a different story, giving the bar one of their busiest new year’s eve crowds its ever had.

“This year it started a lot earlier. By about 7:00 we had a full house,” said Erhardt.

Another spot in superior wanted to help patrons ring in the New Year safely outside. Earth rider brewing had to get rid of their beer tent in late November, replacing it with fire pits and picnic tables for a backyard bonfire experience.

The weekend saw a steady flow of customers braving the elements to have a cold beer, which staff there says wasn’t too bad for January in the Northland.

“People are willing to sit outside and wanting to enjoy a safe space and have a beer with their friends still and their family so I’ve had a lot of customers come up to me and tell me that this is like the one place that they feel safe to go to,” said Miranda Deboer, a beertender at Earth Rider.

As bars and restaurants try to navigate their way through this time. Places like palace bar have seen a new group of customers come in that they might not have seen otherwise.

“New business is always great. Advertising is always great. It’s just unfortunate that Duluth is closed. I feel for those business owners,” said Erhardt.

As bars in Superior remain open, establishments across the bridge in Minnesota are still reserved to outdoor service until the governor’s order expires on January 10 at 11:59 p.m.