Where can you get a cocktail in Columbus on New Year’s Eve? It depends
Revelers in Columbus may venture into the Byzantine world of alcoholic beverage law this New Year’s Eve.
That’s because it’s a Sunday, and state law allows cities to choose only one Sunday a year to allow bars and nightclubs to serve alcohol.
Columbus Council on Jan. 24 passed a resolution choosing Feb. 12, because it was Super Bowl Sunday.
So, that means no bars or nightclubs here can open this Sunday.
Until midnight, that is, because Sunday ends at midnight, and city law says they can serve alcohol from midnight until 4 a.m. on New Year’s Day, as long as New Year’s Day does not fall on a Sunday.
The rules are different for restaurants, defined as businesses that derive most of their sales from food prepared and served on site.
City law says restaurants can start serving alcohol at 11 a.m. on Sundays.
If you find this confusing, you are not alone.
Roongsak Griffeth, better known here as DJ Roonie G, owns Pineapple Jack’s downtown and The Sound Factory at Main Street Village.
In an email to the Ledger-Enquirer, he wrote that he initially was told he could open at 10 p.m. Sunday, as long as he did not serve alcohol until midnight.
Wrong, Mayor Skip Henderson wrote in a text to the Ledger-Enquirer.
The mayor said he told Roonie G bars at 10 p.m. may prepare to open at midnight, but they can’t open until then. “He nor any other club can open to the public prior to midnight,” Henderson wrote.
After hearing that, Roonie G decided he would wait until midnight, and open then, so for a few hours his two clubs can get all the business they can.
It’s usually the biggest night of the year, for the nightclub business, he said: “My employees depend on it.”
This story was originally published December 29, 2023 at 3:51 PM.