Son's 1 and 3 took me to the Garden Fresh Courthouse Cafe on Main Street for my Birthday the morning of New Years Eve-- it's a great place with a terrific staff and fresh good food. While there I asked the owner if she was going to stay open for the evening's First Night Festivities and she said that although she tried it once a few years ago she found NONE of the hundreds (thousands) of people who walked by the place stopped in.
Claudia Snell had a great blog post about First Night in the Big Woo-- and I agree with everything she said-- and I second the idea of having a Pecha Kucha night in conjunction with the event.
Back to the Cafe-- the problem is that even though it makes perfect sense that a business on Main Street would open on New Years Eve-- should open on New Years Eve-- because there are hundreds (thousands) of people walking by the fact is that these reveler's have plunked down their $10-$15 for a button and now expect everything for the rest of the night to be free.
Doesn't make a LOT of sense to me, because the years I've gone the food courts at both the DCU Center and the Church on Main Street were both packed-- and that food isn't free-- why do people at First Night opt to ignore local business?
Veronica thinks the reason they might not do much business is that the place always looks closed, and she might be right.
I'd be curious how a Chinese Restaurant would do on Main Street during First Night. Chopsticks and every other good chinese place is packed on New Years Eve-- I wonder if people would opt for Chinese Food who were actually attending the event?
Is it First Nighter's or is it the infamous Spag's Mentality of being cheap that Worcesterites are sadly known for?
