As some students under 21 scour the city looking for house and apartment parties, The Barking Dog is hosting events to include this age group in their nightlife scene with one caveat: They will not be served alcohol.
With wristbands and markered Xs on underage students’ hands prohibiting them from drinking alcohol, the establishment aims to provide a new nightlife venue for all students to gather regardless of their age, according to Barking Dog manager Aaron Thompson. The venue has hosted a handful of 18+ trial run nights — which Thompson said “won’t be a one shot thing by any means” — and city officials said these events could be beneficial, as they have the potential to discourage students from attending house parties with flowing alcohol.
“The city will be watching the results of that carefully,” said Mayor Andy Fellows. “There is a possible benefit from getting people out of house parties, but the concern is public safety and making sure things are being done in a well-controled way that doesn’t result in a negative outcome.”
The venue has not had any problems with underage drinking that they are aware of thus far, according to Thompson. In the wake of last year’s revocation of Thirsty Turtle’s liquor license for serving two underage police aides alcohol in the same venue, Thompson said employees recognize the need for caution is imperative.
“We worked very hard to have a fun atmosphere,” he said. “Because of what happened there [with Turtle], we’re constantly operating with the target on us.”
Thompson said to prevent underage bar patrons from purchasing alcohol during events, the business will sometimes sell alcohol only on the ground floor, independent from the event, and uses handheld ID scanners during nights where its about 900-person capacity is close to full.
Several students said the Barking Dog has a reputation for only serving of age patrons.
Sophomore business major John — who requested to remain anonymous because he is underage — said in order to drink, he had to have his friend purchase the alcohol and sneakily pass it to him.
“I wasn’t able to buy any drinks,” he said. “A lot of people were rubbing the Xs off and they were kicking people out.”
Barking Dog managers are working to curb such incidents, Thompson said.
“We are taking mitigating steps for things like that,” he said. “That’s the nature of the beast with the bar and restaurant industry.”
With more than 17,000 square feet of space, Luigi Canali — the co-owner of Dojo Promo, the promotion company that hosts some of the 18+ events — said he has dreamed of bringing electronic dance music to students of all ages to the venue.
“For the past few years, I’ve been trying to work with the Thirsty Turtle to arrange something, but then they lost their license,” Canali added. “I saw the venue, the lights and the sound system. I reopened the idea to the Barking Dog and spent two months working with them prior to the first event. They put a lot of trust in us.”
After spending those months working to see the electronic music begin to blare at the Barking Dog, Canali — a finance major at UMUC — said the event’s success left him wanting to help create more for the 18+ crowd.
“By 10 p.m., there were 500 people,” said Ryu-Howie Grob, a junior criminology major who was one of the four featured DJs at the event. “By midnight, we had to turn away over 100 people because we had hit capacity.”
District 4 Councilman Marcus Afzali said the continuance of such events could prove to be a good option for a city lacking in entertainment for the under-21 crowd.
“There’s such a desperate need for nightlife activities for people 18 to 21 in this city,” he said. “It does make me nervous given the history of that establishment, but I really hope it turns out well.”
Senior staff writers Yasmeen Abutaleb, Jim Bach and Rachel Roubein contributed to this report.
kirkwood@umdbk.com , news@umdbk.com
