SEATTLE — Husky football usually means crowded bars and restaurants. But the pandemic has made that impossible. So it’s not the kind of game day people there are used to.
Even on a rainy game day, The Ave is usually packed with enthusiastic fans.
But that was not the case Saturday night.
This is a Husky football game day unlike any other at Big Time Brewery and Alehouse on The Ave. This is a bar where fans are usually cheek by jowl but now spaced out because of the coronavirus.
Kitchen manager and chef Chris Shea said he misses the old days.
“Oh, absolutely,” he said. “I love the challenge of, you know, having so many people show up and getting all that food out, getting all that beer in them. And just everyone leaving happy.”
Shea said businesses all along The Ave are hurting because of the pandemic.
“I’ll walk into, you know, Aladdin’s, up the street,” said Shea. “And that place is normally just packed. I’ll go in there. I’m literally the only customer there.”
And Shultzy’s down the street is closed for remodeling. The business they would get, the owner told us off-camera, is not enough to justify opening.
There was evidence at the University of Washington’s Greek Row that some students may be having their own football party anyway. A group was unloading what looked like several cases of beer.
When asked if they were getting ready for the game, they said, “Ah, no, not really.” Then most of them hurried into the fraternity house.
Other students said they see the pros and cons of the football season finally getting started.
“Like, they’ve been waiting forever to play,” said Maggie Malecek, a UW sophomore, as her friend, Natalie Black, also a sophomore, looked on. “So I’m happy for them.”
They are fully aware, said Malecek, of the danger present with COVID-19.
“It’s outside of my control if they’re going to play,” she said. “And, I mean, they’ve been dealing with it pretty well.”
And “pretty well” may be the best that can be expected at this point. And even non-football fans said they hope the game goes well. They said they need something to look forward to during this difficult time.