Observations from Walkabout September 10 2010

The Barrie Downtown Neighbourhood Association (BDNA) scheduled a late Friday night (11:30pm – 2:30 am) walkabout of the Barrie downtown entertainment district. The participants meet at the corner of Mulcaster Street and Collier Street. Six people showed up to participate. The group headed south down Mulcaster Street to Dunlop Street, at Dunlop Street they headed east ½ a block. The group then turned around and headed west on Dunlop Street to Mary Street. The group turned around and went east to Bayfield Street, then north on Bayfield Street to Collier Street. The group then went to Memorial park to observe the bars closing. My observations are below:

Bar Observations (11 late night establishments):

All had music (live band or DJ), the roll up door/windows were down.

5 out of 11 bars had the music volume so loud that when they opened there entry doors you could hear and/or feel the bass vibrations on the sidewalk approaching the establishment. You could hear the music ½ a block away. When asked why is the music so loud, one comment was that if I lowered my music, my patrons will go somewhere else where the music is louder. I do not care about the residents that live near-by.

In front of some bars, the crowds are so large that you need to step into the street to get by them.

The smokers throw their lit cigarette butts on the sidewalk or fling them out on to the street.

People Observations:

There were lots of Police present; they were hooking up people left and right (intoxication & fights). There were fights on Bayfield Street and Owen Street.

Four males were seen urinating: Memorial Park, Mewes off of Bayfield St, RBC parking lot and Mulcaster Street.

Majority of people were 19 – 30 age group, some were surprised by us and polite to us (old geezers they called us). Others (intoxicated – slurred speech & staggering) were foul mouthed to us.

 Any yelling/shouting you heard was mainly female (higher pitch), but the males were also yelling/shouting. They would forget that they are not in the bar any more to communicate with each other over the loud music. 

People were visiting from afar (Peterborough).

The group learned a lot from this walkabout.