Riders rent reduction a 'contractual matter', no legal threat: Reynolds
12h ago
The $1.33M rent reduction comes from what the club owed during seasons impacted by the pandemic.
After a COVID-19 outbreak in early August, PiNK is looking to give back to the community.
And it will also offer a spooky Saskatoon look in the process.
“We go big on Halloween,” said Joe Jackson, PiNK’s managing partner. “We’re going even bigger (in 2021).”
The club will be transformed into a haunted house, open for all ages between noon and 7 p.m. every Friday to Sunday for the month of October.
It has hired actors to participate in the event, which will cost $10 for adults and $5 for those 12 and under. But it’s not just the haunted house that Jackson is preparing for.
“We’re turning our PiNK Party Bus into our Ghost Bus, and we’ll be offering tours to Saskatoon’s infamously haunted locations before dropping everyone off at the bar,” he explained.
All events, Jackson said, will be up to par with Saskatchewan’s public health orders. That means QR codes — or proof of a negative test — will be needed to participate in either the haunted house tour or the bus tour.
“It’s going to be a tricky year,” he said.
At 8 p.m., PiNK will then revert to being a bar.
The heated patio will be open and changed to the “SPOOKY Cafe,” with non-alcoholic beverages served with local pastries.
Jackson explained some of the additional changes that people will see.
“During the day, we will have our liquor licence removed until 7 p.m. We have a lot of work, putting away all the liquor and locking it up. As long as it’s locked up, we’ll be able to host underaged minors to tour the haunted mansion,” he said.
The outbreak at the bar occurred on July 24, just 13 days after public health orders were dropped in Saskatchewan.
Legally, the bar had done nothing wrong. In a follow-up Facebook post to guests, PiNK asked anyone with symptoms to stay home, and participated in a large-scale sanitization of the facility.
Jackson said he hopes this event shows Saskatonians that those at the nightclub aren’t publicly flouting the rules — they’re following orders from the government.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to do for ages now. We keep getting lumped into that sort of negative stereotype of bars and nightclubs. It’s a stereotype that, unfortunately, we’ve had to deal with and we’ve had to fight against the entire three years I’ve been here,” he said.
“We’re trying to give back to the community and say, ‘You know what? We’re not as bad as people paint us up to be.’ We do our best to be pillars of the community. We try to give back to not only the LGBT community but the community in general. We talk a lot of talk, but this time, it’s time to really walk the walk.”
All proceeds for the event are destined for the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital.
Jackson added that regardless of what people think of PiNK, the bar wants to continue to work to help the community.
“If people still have a negative viewpoint of us, then so be it,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that we can’t keep still giving back and still keep going.”