shorter & sweeter: pub mania makes post pandemic return
Pub Mania will make an energetic return this winter after a three-year hiatus.
The marathon party at Patrick’s Pub & Eatery for more than a decade raised huge sums for the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction — just over half its $600,000 total in 2019 — during the holiday season. But the pandemic, as well as the toll the event had come to take on organizers and bar staff, forced a pause on the festivities.
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“The fatigue of doing this event has subsided,” Patrick’s Pub owner Allan Beetle said Friday. “I think that for some teams, Pub Mania was a rallying point for them, and we've decided for that reason to bring it back.”
Making Irish Pub Food a Take-Out norm
Allan Beetle, owner of Patrick’s Pub & Eatery in Gilford, has been in business for 26 years. Right now, however, he feels like he did when Patrick’s was a fledgling business.
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“It has that same level of excitement and that same level of stress,” Beetle said in a recent interview.
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Normally, Patrick’s business centers around dining in. During the summer, much of the business comes from patrons headed to concerts at the nearby Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion. When the pandemic hit, Beetle and his brother and co-owner Jeff Beetle, knew that they needed to pivot to take-out and delivery, which normally comprises only 1% of their revenue. Now, they’re planning to make that change permanent, while also opening to limited on-site dining, following state regulations.