|
Get wet at
By Joshua Edward
Whalesong Staff
Sponge baths. Jello shots. Incontinent
coeds. When I hear the word “wet” associated with
college drinking nights, these are the first things that come to
mind.
It was with these associations that I entered the hallowed
halls of what many consider to be Juneau’s only “college
bar.” Where I expected to find the obligatory stumbling 20
somethings (“I’m majoring in partying!”) I instead
encountered a surprisingly diverse crowd o’ folks: fishermen
from the harbor across the street, a few familiar faces from the
watering holes downtown, and yes, even some of UAS’ finest.
Troy Cunningham, the owner of Squires Rest, has been
promoting “Wet Wednesdays” to UAS students for the past
two years. While Wednesdays cater to the college crowd with live
music and cheap lager, Cunningham says that the rest of the week
“Squires” is just a “local bar:” unassuming
and unpretentious, a place to sip a beer and watch a game. While
UAS students, according to Cunningham, are the “cream on top,”
the Auke Bay community is the real “meat and potatoes”
of the Squires Rest customer smorgasbord.
“Wet Wednesdays” are a continually evolving
event - even the beer specials that put the wet in “Wet”
change from week to week. On the night I was in-house, the special
was “Labatt’s Blue” for three $3 a pint, which depending
on your choice in lager, may or may not be much of a deal. Like
their rotating beer specials, Squires also has an ever-changing
lineup of local musical talent on hand for “Wet Wednesdays,”
including Cunningham’s band “Rock and Roll Machine,”
who will be playing next on Wednesday, January 29th. For the benefit
of those who enjoy publicly humiliating themselves while intoxicated,
Cunningham recently added a stainless steel dance floor to Squires;
raise high the roof-beams, carpenters!
What Squires lacks in typical college rowdiness it makes
up for in laid-back ambience. Unlike many of the messy college bars
I have imbibed in, Squires has a down-home neighborhood feel that
keeps people coming back long after the beer specials have run dry
for the week. For all of you out there who wish Squires would keep
the party rollin’ just a little later, Cunningham wishes to
inform you that he doesn’t make the laws regarding last call,
he just enforces them: “I’d love to stay open later; unfortunately
we can’t.”
Back to issue contents /
Homepage
|
|
