COVID-19; Retirement in The Villages, FL
Nightclub Partially Reopens, Finally, with Live Music
Even at 25% capacity, partial band, weird dance floor, limited menu, and really early last call - great restart
City Fire at Sumter Landing has been ahead of everybody in The Villages, FL. They revamped their restaurant with some social distancing for the seating and dance floor before the lockdown. They added drive-up takeout two weeks before any other restaurants.
City Fire is again ahead of everybody else with the first live indoor concerts in The Villages
with a few changes. First, restaurants are limited to 25% capacity, so they had two shows with a half-hour to sanitize the place between seating. The two-show setup was new for them. Then, they had a partial menu because they have the same problem with limited availability from their suppliers that we have at the grocery stores. Finally, they located the tables at social distances and closed the walk-up part of the bar.
So, we were excited when City Fire announced live entertainment on Saturday, reservations required. We were their first reservation.
Staffing
Most the staff were there. They stayed open via drive-up throughout the shutdown, so they were able to retain their cooks. I suspect that they took advantage of the Federal Payroll Assistance program to pay their employees during that time. We had our favorite server the first time back.
Another club opened a week later. We recognized the bartender, but nobody else.
Concert & Dancing
Even the usual 4-piece band was at 25% capacity. Clark Barrios sang with an all-electronic band, no live piano player, guitar player, or drummer. The concert was great, though. Dance floor full. He even added “25% capacity” to the lyrics of some songs. We are glad we went.
City Fire also planned social distancing on the dance floor with two dance sections divided by a 6-foot ‘No Dance’ section. A couple could dance at each end of a section and still maintain social distancing. All dancers had to wear their masks. It was a clever setup.
At one time I was dancing with 9 women, but holding hands with only one. Those women didn’t come alone, but their partners would not dance with them, which is sadly somewhat normal. Remember,
You can be on the dance floor Feel really stupid & have lots of fun -or-
Sit and watch the dance floor BE really stupid & have much less fun.
We invited our neighbors to join us. They weren’t going to dance. Ha! They were out there almost as much as we were.
The Club’s last call was at 9:00 pm instead of the usual midnight as part of the limited opening. We were surprised. They didn’t mention that when I made the reservation, but it was fair since the first seating’s concert was the same length.
I talked to the singer while he was putting the band away. He had added a few words about the shutdown to several songs. He was excited about my lyrics for Coronaway, sung to the music of Del Shannon’s song, Runaway.
Conclusion
For us, a retired couple, the shutdown has not been much of a hardship. We have no kids, no job, and the Social Security checks appear in our bank account. The grocery stores were still open, though with limited choices in some cases. And we are not in a nursing home. In The Villages, entertainment was hit the hardest, a frustration but not life-threatening.
We chose The Villages because of live concerts and dancing every night on the 3 town squares. Those squares were among the first to close, along with the nightclubs and restaurants. Over the two-month shutdown, we had three 20-minute traveling street concerts in our neighborhood with a single singer from the back of a trailer. Better than nothing but we missed dancing more than anything else.
I’m glad things are going back to normal, no matter how slowly, and hope we don’t have a spike in cases. City Fire is supposed to be at 50% next Saturday. Maybe they will have half of a band. We already have reservations.
Disclaimer: The author is not connected with City Fire and has received no compensation of any kind. The author is using City Fire as a first-hand method of following one response to COVID-19.
Referenced articles & web sites
Federal Payroll Assistance Program:
