FORT WORTH, Texas — The world's largest honky-tonk reopened its doors Thursday with a major facelift and business plan aiming to keep it alive during our current pandemic.
But its biggest test awaits this weekend as concerts resume Friday and Saturday drawing at least one sold-out crowd.
Billy Bob's Texas Nightclub is heavily known for its concerts, two-stepping, bull riding, and plentiful spirits.
In fact, most Texans consider it a rite of passage to spend at least one night there.
But what has been a popular spot in Fort Worth since 1981, has been shuddered due to COVID-19.
The massive club, which touts 127,000 square feet briefly reopened when Gov. Greg Abbott allowed bars to get back to work. But rising COVID-19 cases after Memorial Day ended that run Spokeswoman Keitha Spears said.
"Bars were behaving badly, bucking the rules," Spears said. "We got swept up in our neighbors and bars across Texas not taking this seriously."
"It was a group spanking."
Improvisation and adaptation, has since been the club's go-to action plan.
To get its doors back open, it needed to realign itself in the state's eyes as a restaurant.
Luckily, a kitchen is on-site and actually has been serving patrons for years.
Here's a rough summarization, but to be considered a restaurant in Texas at least 51% of your gross-receipt sales can't go toward alcohol. Spears told WFAA the club's alcohol sales only make up about 35% of that number.
The rest belong to food sales, gift shop purchases, but mostly admission tickets for concerts.
It made the transition easier Spears admitted.
"We've met all of those rules in the past, but we just haven't done anything with it," Spears said. "We only needed to adjust the way we were being handled.
The previous occupancy of the club hovered around 6,000. Under Abbott's executive orders, the club could allow up to 3,000 people. However, it's playing things safe and capping occupancy at 1,200.
Spears said the club isn't messing around when it comes to customer safety.
Masks must be worn at all times inside, unless someone is drinking or eating at their table.
If they get up to play pool or go to the bathroom, they must have their masks on.
Spacing markers are pasted throughout the building, and only two patrons can be at a number of the club's bars at a time.
Bullriding events have been postponed until further notice.
Seating has also been spaced out.
Spears said you can come in, drink, and not order any food if you'd like. However, staff will be monitoring the movements of patrons to keep them to their tables or to one area of the club so they're not wandering around.
The dance floor will be open but it will be limited to 30 people.
Masks must be worn and if things get crowded, Spears said patrons will be told over a loudspeaker to return to their seats or distance.
It's baffling to think about because if you've been to a concert at Billy Bob's, it can take a long time to go from one side of the building to the other due to the sea of people there.
Reopening the club is a risk, but on paper -- space is on Billy Bob's side.
"Being the world's largest honky-tonk is doing really well for us right now," Spears said.
Investing in safety was a priority too.
At the entrance, there is a thermal imaging camera that reads the temperatures of patrons as they stand in line.
A green box reveals over a person's face if their temperature is normal, a yellow box if it's questionable, and red if it's troublesome.
The red box actually snaps a photo of the patron and allows staff to definitively escort them away from the building.
Friday night the Bellamy Brothers play Billy Bob's, and Spears said the occupancy will likely be around 500.
However, Flatland Cavalry Saturday night will be sold-out.
Spears told WFAA that it should be easy for staff to enforce protocols since many of them are used to dealing with nearly six times the occupancy.
And if anyone gets out of line, she said the new restaurant has a good history of throwing people out.
"It's really going to come down to how we enforce people getting into the building and if our guests are going to work with us," Spears said.
