Joel Schechtman said he is ready for Moms' Weekend, traditionally one of the biggest sales weekends of the year for local bars. Like many bar owners, he stocked his wine and liquor supplies -and he ordered extra spinach.
Schechtman, who owns The Blue Gator, 63 N. Court St., and Skipper's, 22 W. Union St., said Moms' Weekend typically brings an increase in the sales of margaritas, daiquiris, wine and also a jump in orders for Skipper's spinach dip.
Other bar workers shared similar stories. Emily Hasenstab, a bar manager at The Red Brick Tavern, 14 N. Court St., said she receives a higher-than-average number of orders for mixed drinks, especially Long Island iced tea and amaretto sours.
Because moms tend to order more expensive drinks rather than beer, total sales and profits for the weekend increase.
Moms' Weekend is by far the biggest weekend of the year for us
said Red Brick owner Debbie Clary.
Schechtman, who also said Moms' Weekend tops his list, expects an increase in sales compared to an average weekend of somewhere between one-third to two-thirds.
Don Pepper, owner of The Crystal, 34 N. Court St., expects sales to be one and a half times their average on Friday and double the Saturday average. He said Moms' Weekend is The Crystal's fourth largest weekend of the year, trumped by Dads' Weekend, homecoming and graduation.
During the weekend, bars have to serve crowds that include more older women than usual, but the age difference does not stop the craziness for which Athens is known, some students said.
Chelsea Valentine, a junior who went out during Moms' Weekend last year, said her mom initiated a verbal fight with a man after she saw him hit a girl in a bar. Eventually, Valentine's mother persuaded the bar's bouncer to remove the man from the premises.
Allison Bernard, a sophomore, said she and her mother saw an older woman passed out in front of Taco Bell, a sight so unusual that she still remembers it.
Sophomore Hartley Mikus said her mother was struck by the odd things they saw last year. Mikus said she and her mother witnessed grandmothers being carried home from the bars and a mother vomiting on Court Street.
I didn't think it got that crazy but I guess it does Mikus said.
17
Archives
Kantele Franko
