At least eight bars in the ByWard Market will be staying open late Saturday to take advantage of the hype around RedBull Crashed Ice.
Junxion, Cabin, Tomo, Whiskey Bar, Liquor Store, Ace Mercado, People and Kavali Nightclub will be open until 4 a.m. Sunday morning, two hours after their usual last call.
"It's absolutely insane for us," said Duong Hoang, the co-owner of Junxion. "It's the first time we have been open and we are pretty happy about it."
The owners of those eight popular restaurants and bars applied for an exemption to Ontario's liquor laws last month. They thought it was a done deal since the city of Ottawa revised its liquor rules last year to draw more people to the capital in 2017. Instead, owners like Steven Manuk said the process was frustrated and more complicated than it needed to be.
"There was some miscommunication with city staff and some not so clear communication with the AGCO and that came to the forefront late Wednesday and early Thursday morning," Manuk said.
An email sent to the bar owners late this week, said the applications were rejected by the AGCO because "of an email originating from the City of Ottawa."
The City of Ottawa said it rejected the request because of concerns its emergency services would be overwhelmed.
"Because of concerns regarding an increased pressure on City resources due to the number of establishments seeking an extension, the City recommended against the extension of bar hours," said Dan Brisebois, the Director of 2017 Operations and Special Events.
Mayor Watson asked the City Manager to assess whether our Emergency Services had the capacity to support these permit extension requests, given that City services are already deployed at high capacity in support of Red Bull Crashed Ice," the mayor's press secretary Livia Belcea wrote in an email. "ultimately, the City Manager deemed that the City was able to support these requests, at which time City staff asked AGCO to reconsider their decision.
“Because of concerns regarding an increased pressure on City resources due to the number of establishments seeking an extension, the City recommended against the extension of bar hours.
"We've brought in international talent. We've paid a lot of money for this to happen. We've, of course, brought in extra staff for this," Manuk said.
With more 2017 events right around the corner and more exemptions already in the works, Ottawa Councillor Mathieu Fleury said it's time for a conversation with various parties about who pays for cost of hiring additional emergency services when bars are granted an exemption.
"There are a lot of 2017 events coming up ... but we want to make sure that in that regard, those costs are covered," Fleury said.
The bar owners are hopeful this bout of confusion will smooth the way for future applications.
