B-Side Tavern Is Closed Today So Its Employees Can “Yell Into the Ether”

B-Side owner Tanya Frantzen told WW the benefits of opening today didn't “outweigh the relief at not having to go to work.”

B-Side Tavern, pre-pandemic.

B-Side Tavern is closed for Election Day—or, more specifically, closed for what feels like the national mood.

According to a cardboard sign tacked to the front door, the East Burnside Street bar closed today so its employees can "exercise their right to vote pace back and forth and yell into the ether."

Posted by B-Side Tavern on Monday, 2 November 2020

That seems about right, especially given that more than half of Oregonians have already voted.

In an email, B-Side owner Tanya Frantzen told WW that the benefits of opening today didn't "outweigh the relief at not having to go to work."

"We take the mental health and safety of our employees very seriously," says Frantzen. "Everyone is on edge today with election anxiety and expectations of civil unrest, and we decided that it wasn't a good idea to be open."

It was B-Side's bartenders, not Frantzen, who came up with the sign.

"My employees are extremely witty," she says. "I leave the signage to them always."

Related: Beloved Punk Dive Bar B-Side Tavern Has Finally Reopened Following a Long Recovery from Fire Damage

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