The Levee, Fairfield’s on-campus bar, hosts a variety of beer selections throughout the year to those of legal drinking age.
Unfortunately, the beginning of this year saw low attendance at the Levee, according to bartenders Taylor Trenchard ‘14 and Katie Gillette ‘15.
Due to a large number of seniors living off-campus, it seems to be that the low turnout coincides with the inability of Fairfield Beach seniors to get to and from campus safely.
Senior Francesca Romano stated, “I would love to go to the Levee for mug night and have a few drinks. However, I do not want to drink and drive. It is difficult to get a ride to and from the Levee. I wish the school would extend a shuttle service to seniors at the beach on senior mug nights.”
Trenchard explained, “We are still trying to bring in seniors from both on- and off-campus and would appreciate any feedback on how to do that.”
While transportation remains an issue for many seniors at Fairfield, Bart Kallgren, program coordinator for conference and event management who also helps run the Levee, said that financially the bar is doing well, despite what the bartenders describe as a low turnout.
“Seniors can go to the Seagrape, yes, but the ‘Grape is the ‘Grape. The Levee is your bar, so take advantage of it,” said Gillette.
In order to increase attendance, Trenchard explained: “We changed the structure of our staff by adding three student supervisors, myself, Hannah Patridge [‘14], and Jessica Wyszynski [‘14], who have worked at the bar for at least a year. We have added events like $2 Tuesdays and listened to student feedback about what beers and events they want to see at the Levee.”
Although Kallgren said the Levee cannot serve hard liquor due to the terms of their current liquor license, they do have a large selection of domestic, imported and microbrewery beers.
Many of the microbrews offered are brewed locally. According to bartender Joe DiRico ‘15, the beers have a “unique flavor and customers have given us good feedback about them.”
According to DiRico these include beers such as The Naughty Nurse, an English Bitter beer from Hartford, Conn. and several products from Stratford, Conn. brewery Two Roads.
Since the beginning of the year, the Levee has started Trivia Night, which has been successful, as well as $2 Tuesdays. In addition, a Senior Mug Night event occurs monthly.
The Levee staff and bartenders hope that all students will come to take advantage of Fairfield’s on-campus bar.
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