ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – While many businesses have closed their doors for New Year’s Eve, it is a busy day for Escanaba bars and pubs.
New Year’s Eve is one of the biggest nights of the year for a bar and grill like Cat-Man-Do’s.
“The later it gets—typically just before midnight—we’re usually pretty packed in here,” said co-owner Curt Spaulding. “It’s really hard to move. We put out food every year to celebrate the holiday and the new year. We do a toast if anybody cares to participate at midnight, and it’s a good time.”
Over at South City Pub, the last night of the year is always a fun one.
“We’ll have a black light party tonight,” said owner Kaylah Berube. “We’ll have music, dancing, drink specials, shot specials. It’s usually a happening bar.”
In addition to celebrating, South City is also doing some good tonight. The pub is giving 10% of all sales to employees of the Stonehouse, which burned down on December 21. A donation bucket is also set up for those who want to give more.
“The Stonehouse is one of our favorite places to go to for my husband and I, and we’ve been talking about ways that we could help them out,” Berube said. “We thought New Year’s, with us being open long hours and being busy, that this would be the best way that we could donate the most.”
Last Saturday, staff members at Cat-Man-Do’s collected $2,400 in tips to donate to Stonehouse employees.
“We help out the community as much as we can,” said Spaulding. “We do Muscle on Main every summer and raise a significant amount of money for local charities. It was a tragedy that we lost an iconic business like the Stonehouse, and we felt it was very important to support them.”
Both Cat-Man-Do’s and South City Pub will be open and ringing in the holiday until 4 a.m. The owners say they are excited for a new year of celebrations, charity, and making memories with their patrons.
“We try our best to provide a very safe and fun environment for our customers, so everyone feels welcome when they come in and enjoy themselves,” Spaulding said. “We bring in the new year and have a good time. That’s what they expect and that’s what we make sure we give them.”
“It’s just a fun way to end a great year and start a new year,” said Berube. “We’d like to thank everybody for supporting us since the beginning. We love it here, we love everybody here that comes in, and we appreciate every single person.”
Cat-Man-Do’s is located at 1223 Ludington Street and South City Pub is located at 1117 Ludington Street.
