On Feb. 16, the Marchese Blue Light Pub on campus reopened for spring semester with eased COVID-19 restrictions.
The Pub hours are currently Wednesday nights from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m.
It is open to members of the senior class who are over the age of 21 and serves a wide range of drinks, including beers, wine, assorted mixed drinks, ciders, and hard seltzers.
The College has recently updated many of the previously existing COVID-19 restrictions, including removing the indoor masking requirement and eliminating gathering size limits. Due to these changes, the Pub was able to serve roughly 75 members of the senior class on Feb. 16.
The students who attended were not required to wear masks.
Although the Pub was open through much of last semester and through the 2020-2021 academic year, it was not widely attended due to limited capacity.
According to Katherine Berthalumue, a retail manager at Colby’s dining services, the atmosphere at the Pub on Wednesday was more energetic given the eased restrictions.
“Last night, they played music, played pool, and had trivia games,” Berthalumue said.
Berthalumue also said that the Pub now hosts game nights every other Friday. Although the Pub does not currently serve alcohol during game nights, the school hopes to open the bar during game nights in the coming weeks.
“Once the new bartender feels comfortable, we will open the bar on game nights,” Berthalumue said.
Lindsey Merolla ’22 attended Pub Night on Feb. 16. She did not go to the Pub last semester due to COVID-19 restrictions but said that she had a fun time at her first Pub Night and plans to return next week.
“It was super fun,” Merolla said. “I came right when trivia started, and there were a bunch of people in teams around the room. Everyone was chatting and playing pool and foosball.”
Merolla enjoyed her night and said that the removal of the mask requirement made Pub Night feel more homey and relaxed.
Senior Class Presidents Morgan Honor ’22 and Ellie Batchelder ’22 are responsible for planning Pub Night each week. They work with Kimberly Berthalumue and Richard Backstrom to organize these weekly events.
According to Honor, it was previously challenging to plan the nights due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“They did not let us have Pub Night for a long time because of COVID-19 restrictions, which was interesting because they did not have the same restrictions for dining halls, which seemed like a double standard, but we worked through that and started doing Pub Nights during the middle of October,” Honor said. “At first it was limited to 50 people, and everyone had to wear masks, and not that many people came. As Richard and Kimberly began to trust me and Ellie, they decided that they could lift some of the restrictions, so the Pub was able to have 75 people at a time.”
Morgan came up with the idea to add trivia to Pub Night, which has been a huge success so far. She is responsible for planning, writing, and judging the trivia, saying that it has been so successful that a large part of their budget is allocated towards prizes for trivia winners.
“We started doing trivia the first week of December, and it was a hit,” Honor said.
She also noted that the Pub is a valuable social space that helps bring the senior class together during their final semester at Colby.
“Coming and getting together on a week night during our last semester has been really nice. People love trivia, and that really brings everyone together. People meet new people, and have a drink with someone they wouldn’t normally have a drink with and stay out,” Honor said. “It’s a great place to socialize for people who don’t normally have that outlet.”
~ Veronica McIntyre ’24
