Dru’s Place/Facebook
By now, maybe you’ve done a virtual workout or your child has done some virtual learning. Tune in to Facebook tonight for, perhaps, a brand-new virtual experience — a drag show streaming live from Midtown.
Dru’s Place on Madison is moving cautiously ahead with its regular drag shows on Thursday and Saturday nights. Bar owner Tami Montgomery explained in a Thursday Facebook post that she’s taken many precautions for the shows, including streaming them on the bar’s Facebook page.
“I understand there are many people who disagree with businesses remaining open, and you have every right to your opinion,” Montgomery said. “Do not think for one second that this is an easy decision for any business owner to make. We will adhere to all regulations put forth by the city, state, and/or federal government.”
Dru’s Place/Facebook
Montgomery said she has removed half of the bar’s seating, hired an environmental sanitation company to treat the bar every week, increased cleaning procedures, increased the personal hygiene requirements of the staff, canceled events, limited bar hours, and limited the number of people allowed inside.
However, the drag shows will remain for now, she said. For those, buckets will be used to collect tips (and you can send virtual tips on Venmo and other apps), the crowd is limited to 50 people, the bar will be open only for an hour and a half, and performers will remain on the stage and not circulate through the crowd. If you’ve never been to a drag show but have been curious, log on to Facebook and get a live look tonight from 10 to 11:30 p.m.
Dru’s Place/Facebook
A screenshot from a live-feed test by Dru’s Place yesterday. Tune in tonight and see the stage filled with the bar’s famous drag artists.
Montgomery said hosting the shows is a business decision, but a tough one.
“Many of you feel that there is help being provided and a business can just close up and the government will take care of them and their employees, or that business insurance covers the shutdown,” she wrote Thursday afternoon. “This is not factual information. Most policies will not cover a business being closed due to a virus.
“If you have never owned a business with employees who depend on their job to put a roof over their head, pay their bills, and eat, or invested everything you have ever had in a business, then you do not understand the position small business owners are in at this time. We have obligations you can not imagine, and every day we get up and do the best we can to do the best we can.”
