CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte businesses are having to adjust plans to ring in the new year.
Fahrenheit hosted a New Year’s Eve brunch with a champagne toast at noon, ushering in 2021 a few hours early.
"We wanted to provide Charlotte with a fun and new experience to bring in the new year,” said Mercury Arteaga, social director for Fahrenheit. “You know, it doesn't necessarily need to be at midnight. Some places in the world are bringing it in at noon, so we decided why not us?"
North Carolina is currently under a modified stay-at-home order with a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Dine-in alcohol sales end at 9 p.m.
The curfew hours added a challenge for businesses making plans for New Year’s Eve.
"In the past when there wasn't a pandemic, we were hosting huge parties, making sure that we had DJs and providing Charlotte with an elevated New Year's Eve experience,” Arteaga said. “However, due to the curfew and everything else going on in the world, we had to shift gears."
Fahrenheit still plans to host a four-course dinner on New Year’s Eve, but the party will be cut short far before midnight.
Guests will be socially distanced at tables and the statewide mask mandate must be followed.
"We need to just say goodbye to 2020 and bring in 2021, even if it means we have to do it a little bit earlier, we still want to provide the Charlotte community with a really good experience,” Arteaga added.
Balloons and decorations were up at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille, but the celebrations were different.
"For 35 years New Year's Eve has been the single biggest financial day of my life," said owner Matt Wohlfarth.
On normal New Year's Eve celebrations, his restaurant sees more than a thousand patrons. This year, Wohlfarth expected only between 20 to 100 people. It could cost him upwards of $70,000 in sales.
"It's devastating. But at the same time I fully get it," he said.
Instead of a fixed menu, and tickets sold weeks in advance for an epic celebration, Thursday's festivities will be just another day at the Dilworth favorite.
"Now I throw a nerf football up in the air at nine o'clock and we all go home," he added as he laughed.
Alcohol-sales restrictions set by Gov. Roy Cooper mean there won't be a midnight toast. Instead, they'll have a nine o'clock toast, the time businesses must cease sales of alcoholic drinks.
Across town at Red Salt, similar pivots have been made.
"We've got to have everyone out the door by 10 p.m.," said Lawrence Main, the general manager of Red Salt said. "The first big thing is no liquor after nine o'clock."
"We're only really getting one round of people through the dining room this evening," he added.
They've enhanced their experience by providing a four-course meal, and wine-pairing for guests. Reservations show they will make 75 meals to ring in the New Year, far less than originally expected in a non-pandemic year.
"It's a year of adjustments," Main said.
Middle C Jazz adjusted its showtimes to 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. to allow time for guests to make it home for the 10 p.m. curfew.
The jazz club decked out space with New Year’s Eve balloons and hats, but it is still making sure all Covid-19 safety protocols are followed. The venue is limiting its capacity to around 50 to 60 people per show, and tables are spaced out at least six feet apart.
Larry Farber, founding director of Middle C Jazz, said it was important for him to open the space for New Year’s Eve to give people a space to have fun in a safe, compliant way.
"It's three-fold,” he said. “We help our customers have some fun. We help musicians play, and we help our employees survive."
Farber said music has a healing power and gives people a break from the events of the outside world for 75 to 90 minutes, which is why he said it’s been important for him to keep the doors open this year.
However, Farber said he has even greater hopes for 2021.
“Honestly, for 2021 is when the time is right when the pandemic is over, that we can fill our club with people sitting closer,” Farber said. “That we can feel the passion, we can feel the synergy and energy that emanates from the stage, and for me, to be able to shake hands and hug people once again.”