“It’s definitely felt across town” | Penn State students reflect on the impacts of coronavirus on nightlife
After over a year and a half of precautious behavior as a result of the spreading coronavirus, Penn State students are ready to get back to their normal nightlife routines.
Students flood the streets of State College after midnight on a Thursday night — whether they are headed to one of State College’s many bars or bouncing between apartment parties, the crowds are moving.
Hundreds of Penn Staters begin to engage in the upcoming drunken revelry of the weekend.
The line out the door of Champs Downtown stretched beyond the corner of Allen Street and Beaver Avenue, and people hustle in and out of the Phyrst.
“What’s the move, b — — — ?” one student said as he stumbled out of the subterranean Irish pub and lit a cigarette, already in his mouth.
A group of five other men and women at varying degrees of inebriation quickly followed him, not saying a word as he made his way toward Champs.
As the night went on, the crowds did not let up deep into the evening.
Even though Penn State students were generally more cautious going out during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, they do not seem to be as worried as they once were.
Nightlife at the height coronavirus pandemic
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, State College implemented regulations on businesses to keep students and other residents safe and prevent the spread of the virus.
The State College Borough Council put in place a temporary emergency masking ordinance which required “face coverings for all persons inside [businesses] and other facilities open to the public,” according to their website.
This meant people had to wear face masks inside bars and restaurants. The purpose of the regulation was to hopefully disincentivize people from going out as much.
Another action the borough took to minimize contact between people was placing capacity limits on locations that served food and alcohol. This meant that some of the typical locations students would like to hang out on the weekends looked a lot different than usual.
Those who typically like to enjoy breaking it down on a dance floor were out of luck. Most large establishments were forced to close this section of the bar to prevent overcrowding.
Bar Manager of Jax Bar & Kitchen Tyler Suchy said the regulations hurt businesses across the board. However, the fact that Jax serves food as well as drinks helped maintain a steady base of customers.
Suchy said out of all the bars across town, Jax was “most equipped to deal with” the upheavals of the pandemic.
Due to reduced capacity, the restaurant removed some tables so as not to exceed limits put in place by the borough.
It’s clear that local bars and restaurants have been struggling to stay afloat recently after suffering the consequences of the borough’s actions.
Despite this, Penn State students were still keen to get their fix of partying within the last two years.
Penn State student Nick Eickhoff said he doesn’t party much, but didn’t slow down during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I was a little more cautious,” Eickhoff (freshman-film production) said. “But maybe not as cautious as I should have been.”
The fact that he is only 18-years-old meant Eickhoff went out to house parties for the past two years, but he was still conscious of “respecting other people’s boundaries.”
Current nightlife in State College
In almost all respects, nightlife in State College is on the way back to how it looked in 2019 before bars and restaurants had masking requirements and capacity limits.
Suchy said it’s hard to get students to go out to bars again after the pandemic because nearly half the student population crossed the legal drinking age within the last two years.
Many students are more used to going to house parties or fraternities, where they can drink underage, but hurts the bars and restaurants financially.
Eickhoff said with Penn State’s university wide mask mandate being lifted, students are more likely to feel comfortable going out to house parties, and feels as though there is a “general consensus that things are back to normal.”
Reese Holl said he only goes out “on occasions” when he “has a reason to party,” and generally sticks with the same group of friends.
He said this is the result of staying in and hanging out with friends in his own apartment for so long.
Are students over the pandemic?
Put simply, Penn State students’ feel like their nightlives are completely back to normal when it comes to the pandemic. There isn’t anything holding kids back from having a good time.
Aditya Kommoju (senior-architectural engineering) said he goes out much more now that coronavirus regulations are easing up.
Kommoju (senior-architectural engineering) typically goes to bars like the Phyrst or Champs when he goes out, even though last year he prefered “apartment parties and daylongs at houses.”
Penn State student Jack Vlazny also said his going-out habits are nearly back to normal.
Vlazny (senior-management information systems), who said he frequents bars like the Brewery, Cafe 210 West and Shandygaff, said he is “not that concerned” about catching or spreading the coronavirus since he’s been vaccinated.
He said in his own experience, there is still a population of the student body that is “wary” about partying.
“I think there’s still certainly a population that doesn’t feel comfortable,” he said. “But I think most of the people going out are probably similar to me.”
As for bars and restaurants, there is still some uncertainty whether things are back to normal.
“It’s definitely felt across town,” Suchy said. “A lot of people are still waiting for the ‘all clear’ that we’re out of this thing.”
Though he said the pandemic has left a “pretty big scar” on the bar industry, Suchy said different locations are doing “everything they can” to bounce back such as new specials and live music.
Jax has held a pajama party, Jersey Shore night and other themed events to try to engage students to return.
“I do think there is a willingness among the student body to come back out,” Suchy said. “It’s just on us to make it as easy as possible for them.”
