On Valentine’s Day the well-attended KUPS dance party at the Grit City Grindhouse was brought to a close when paramedics were called in to assist an intoxicated student.
Before its conclusion, however, all parties involved referred to the party as a huge success.
“I’d say that it was overall a very well put-on event,” Grit City Grindhouse owner and financial director Robert Boyle said. “I think the DJ’s were great, and the staff did a really good job.”
KUPS was delighted to see such a wide variety of students in attendance. “It was really exciting to see how many students were there because I think it really showed how many students want to actually get off campus and experience local music,” KUPS General Manager Kim Clancy said.
In order to ensure that no alcohol was served to underage students, the venue was staffed by both an experienced bartender and a bouncer who gave students over the age of 21 a bracelet.
Those who were underage had an “X” drawn on to their hands with a marker. Both the Grindhouse and KUPS stress that the student in question was not served any alcohol at the venue.
“From what we understand, [the student] wasn’t served from our bar,” Boyle said. “We checked everyone’s ID at the door, and made sure that everyone who was given drinks had the proper bracelets on.”
“A student, who had previously consumed too much alcohol, came to the event and was marked as being underage, so [the student] was not given any alcohol at the event,” Clancy said.
“The [Grindhouse] has a banquet permit, meaning the event was able to be open to all-ages and still have beer available for those over twenty-one.”
Other local places, such as Metronome Coffee, have a similar wine and beer permit that allows them to sell alcoholic beverages to those over 21, while still allowing underage patrons inside the venue.
The paramedics arrived about 20 minutes into the third and final DJ’s set, about an hour before the event was scheduled to end. “The decision was then made to end the event early because obviously safety is paramount to a dance party,” Clancy said. “Even though it was sad to have it end early, I was really impressed with how students handled themselves and behaved respectfully.”
Due to this incident the Grit City Grindhouse is uncertain whether they will host another University event in the future, though they would be open to the idea provided stricter precautions are taken next time.
“From the perspective of us as owners of the Grit City Grindhouse, it’s disheartening that people were kind of being irresponsible,” Boyle said.
“I think we would do things differently next time. I can’t say for certain, but at this time we’re not saying no.”
Despite the event’s conclusion, KUPS, as well those in at the dance were pleased with the event that took months to plan and coordinate. The radio station, supported by many excellent reactions, hopes to do more exciting off-campus events in the future.
“I heard so much positive feedback which was great to hear,” Clancy said.
“As a staff, we’ve wanted to focus a lot more on the local music scene. We’ve wanted to have more shows off campus and work with more venues in Tacoma, so to have the show at Grit City was our way of trying to reach out and put that into action,” Clancy said.
“We’re excited to get more involved with the local music scene.”
