Hospitality Resource Alliance educates young bar customers

DATE: October 5, 2009 3:54:26 PM PDT

Contact: Lara Welker, Campus Community Coalition, Hospitality Resource Alliance, 650-6863; Lara.Welker@wwu.edu

BELLINGHAM – The Hospitality Resource Alliance is launching an educational campaign called “Bellingham Nightlife … Advice on Tap.” The campaign is a local effort to reduce disruptive alcohol-induced behaviors among 21- to 25 year-old bar patrons in downtown Bellingham.

Advice on Tap was developed by the Hospitality Resource Alliance, which focuses on promoting responsible hospitality practices. The group includes bar owners and staff, law enforcement personnel, and staff from Prevention and Wellness Services at Western Washington University.

“The group worked hard to define and agree on public safety issues downtown,” said Lara Welker, who coordinates the group. “Police, bar owners, and customers all have different perspectives, but they found common ground on what they thought would both foster nightlife and improve public safety.”

The Hospitality Resource Alliance is based on “shared responsibility” – the concept that bars, law enforcement, and customers all have a role to play in promoting public safety. The group decided to focus on customers for this campaign, and chose young bar goers as its primary audience.

"The younger crowd is new to the bar scene and they're still learning what is okay behavior in this environment," said Brian Waller, owner of The Beaver Inn. "We wanted to help them without telling them what to do."

The Hospitality Resource Alliance knew it would need to be creative to reach this audience, so it worked with a Public Relations and Research class at WWU. Three groups of students developed campaign plans as their class projects and presented them to the Hospitality Resource Alliance. The campaign logo and materials were designed by a student from Western’s Design Production program.

The campaign consists of three Advice on Tap nights this fall: Oct. 8, Nov. 5, and Dec. 3. Staff in participating bars will wear campaign T-shirts and distribute Advice on Tap buttons to customers. An interagency enforcement effort involving the Bellingham Police Department, WWU Police Department, and the Washington State Liquor Control Board will place extra officers on foot and bicycles in the downtown area.

“Our goal is to educate newer, younger bar patrons about appropriate behavior so we can reduce the necessity to make arrests, and make downtown a more comfortable place to be for everyone,” said Bellingham Police Department Lt. Bill Slodysko. Newspaper ads, posters, and a website (www.bhamadviceontap.com) will run throughout the fall to complement the Advice on Tap nights.

Advice on Tap messages:

Find a bouncer if a customer is bugging you
You must have your ID every time
Bars have to cut you off if you are drunk
Tip your bartender, not your drink
Your friends reflect on you
Never start a fight inside or outside a bar
Take a cab home – it’s cheaper than a DUI
Can’t decide whether or not to drink another? Don’t!

The Advice on Tap messages were adapted from brochures by Bellingham’s Downtown Alliance for Music and Nightlife. These two brochures, "45 Things Your Bartender Wishes You Knew" and "Things Your Bouncer Wishes You Knew," are the result of numerous interviews with staff from downtown bars in Bellingham.

Bar Campaign Partners:

Bellingham Bar and Grill
Cap Hansen’s
Downtown Bob’s Burger and Brew
Glow Nightclub
Grand Avenue Ale House
Rumors
The Beaver Inn
The Green Frog Café Acoustic Tavern
The Horseshoe Café and Lounge
Wild Buffalo

Other Campaign partners:

Bellingham Police Department
Bellingham’s Downtown Alliance for Music and Nightlife
Washington State Liquor Control Board
Western Washington University Police Department
Western Washington University’s Prevention and Wellness Services programs (Campus Community Coalition, Alcohol and Drug Consultation and Assessment Services, Violence Prevention, Crime and Sexual Assault Services)
Whatcom Traffic Safety Task Force

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