Mar 13, 2008 6:05 pm US/Central
Curtain's Down At The Rock As Smoking Ban Enforced
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
Brian Bauman's career as a stage manager lasted about a month.
Bauman, owner of The Rock, a hard-rock and heavy metal bar in suburban Maplewood, said the city attorney paid him a visit on Wednesday and told him the bar must put a stop to the "theatrical productions" it has been staging to get around a state ban on smoking in bars and restaurants.
"He told me we need to cease what we're doing out here immediately," Bauman said.
If not, the bar's liquor license could be reconsidered by the City Council, Bauman said he was warned.
The Rock is one of about three dozen bars in Minnesota that began staging the faux productions to exploit a loophole in the law -- which went into effect Oct. 1 -- that exempts performers in theatrical productions. The state Health Department got wind of the shows and announced last week that it would begin cracking down on "theater nights" with fines of as much as $10,000.
A few bars have actually encouraged their patrons to dress in costume and attempt a little improvisation. Others, like The Rock, have done little more than print cheap playbills to tack over the entrance, listing the patrons as "actors" who are then entitled to smoke.
Several reported a boost in business since they began allowing smoking again.
Maplewood City Attorney Alan Kantrud didn't immediately return a phone call left Thursday by The Associated Press.
John Stieger, a spokesman for the Health Department, said Thursday that the agency didn't know how many bars had stopped putting on theater nights since the threatened crackdown. He said the agency hoped that a combination of local law enforcement and the threat of fines would put an end to them.
Bauman said The Rock couldn't risk losing its liquor license, so its final "show" -- dubbed "Before the Ban" -- will be held Sunday, despite the risk.
"Then we'll go back to losing money," he said.
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