The empty bar at Dew Chilli Pub & Grill on North Grand. There s no sugarcoating it. COVID-19 has been the catalyst for a nightmare year. Bars and restaurants were and continue to be among the hardest hit. In the second month of new mitigations, many plan to voice their concerns at a rally on Dec. 19.
Too soon? A prevailing attitude among Springfield bar and restaurant owners is that the first shutdown came too early for central Illinois. We followed all the rules at the beginning, said Ryan Bandy, owner of Win, Lose, or Draught in Springfield and vice president of CILBA (Central Illinois Licensed Beverage Association). It got really frustrating in early April into May and June, because we didn t really have any big outbreaks in our area but were still shut down. The governor decided to be overly cautious, which was his prerogative, but it didn t work.