The Union Bar and Grill's opening "weekend" will begin May 25, a Wednesday.
Two weeks before the newly-renovated Union Bar & Grill opens, owner Eric Gunn says there’s still a lot of work to do.
“It’s still a little bit of a construction zone, you know,” Gunn said. “Multiple things are getting done at once — the little stuff like shelving and ‘where do you put the toilet brush?’ All the little details that you don’t really think about that you have to think about in order to get open and ready to go.”
After a fire destroyed the bar located at 18 W. Union St. in November 2014, the Union plans to reopen May 25, according to a Facebook status the bar posted Tuesday night. All of the major construction has been completed, but bar management still has to train staff, test equipment, stock supplies and figure out details like where to keep the toilet brush, Gunn said.
The bar will hold an opening weekend May 25 to May 28, according to the status.
“We’re the Union,” Gunn said. “Weekend starts on Wednesday, especially in the summertime.”
Gunn said he hopes spreading opening weekend out over several days will keep the bar from getting too crowded, and plans to release more specific information regarding opening weekend, such as times and bands, within the next week.
“A lot of that is still being worked out,” he said.
Previous Facebook posts indicated bar management hoped to open the Union in mid-April, but the building wasn’t ready at that time, according to a previous Post report.
The renovated bar will feature furnishings salvaged from the fire, including a bar surface constructed from scorched wood, according to a previous Post report. The bar will have a checkered tile floor similar to the original, upgraded windows and a new patio.
“I hope everybody likes the … I don’t know if ‘change’ is the right word, but, you know, I mean, everything’s brand new,” he said. “It will feel very familiar, but there are some changes.”
Gunn said he’s most looking forward to seeing the people he hasn’t seen for a while, some of whom he considers family.
“I saw them multiple days a week and all that stuff, and that’s really been taken away from us these past 18 months,” he said. “I’m just excited to see people having a good time and enjoying the music and hopefully meeting their significant others and all those types of things that people do and have historically done out at the Union.”
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Gunn hopes opening weekend goes smoothly enough that he’ll be able to sit back and “maybe have an adult beverage or two,” adding he’s glad he no longer has to tell people he doesn’t know when the bar will open.
“It seems like it’s taken a long time, but we’ve, especially in these last stages, we’ve been trying to go as fast as we can,” Gunn said. “Two weeks will go by like that. It’ll be here before we know it, and everyone can come and have a good time.”
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