Grizzly Rose Owner Not Surprised With Health Department's Decision
ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - The Grizzly Rose is closed until further notice after the Tri-County Health Department issued an order to close Wednesday. The move comes after the venue hosted more people than current state COVID guidelines allow.
Owner Scott Durland says he was out of town last weekend when his staff became overwhelmed with capacity concerns.
"There were some problems forming outside because the crowds were so big, and I made the decision on the phone at that time to let them in," Durland told CBS4's Andrea Flores. "I said just said, 'Go ahead and let the people come in.'"
The popular country music venue falls under Level Orange. According to Tri-County Health Department, The Grizzly Rose is required to adhere to 25% capacity, or 50 people, whichever is fewer.
Since Saturday, a video has surfaced on social media showing a packed dance floor and violations of COVID restrictions.
"Once I saw the report of the number of people that we had in here Saturday, which was higher than our allotted amount, I decided I better call and tell Tri-County that I was aware of it, and that we were going to try to mitigate that," said Durland.
Monday, Durland told the department he would voluntarily and temporarily close. Wednesday, the Tri-County Health Department took it one step further and ordered them to close indefinitely.
"It was not a surprise to me at all," Durland explained. "I told them when I called them that I was going to close because there was no way we could turn away that many people without creating a riot outside."
Order or not, Durland says he had no plan to reopen regardless.
"Under the current Colorado COVID guidelines for reopening, for a place this big, there's no way to open and actually be profitable. It would probably cost me more money to open than it would to stay closed," said Durland. "We're over 50,000 square feet. If we opened it at 50 people, each person would have 1,000 square feet to roam. Hopefully, the state can come up with something that's a little more doable for something specific like this, but that may be a while."
The Tri-County Health Department Order to Close states it is unlawful for any person to willfully violate, disobey, or disregard this order, and any other public health orders. It goes on to say any person who does so may be guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor and, upon conviction, may be punished by a fine of up to $5,000, and imprisonment in a county jail for up to 18 months.
