Patio-goers might want to savor the downtown Windsor street-closure for Memorial Cup weekend, because it may not happen again anytime soon.
Downtown Windsor has closed Ouellete Ave from Park St and University Ave. every weekend in August for years, but after the cost grew from hundreds of dollars per business to thousands, brothers Alex and Mike Lambros say participants dropped like flies.
Alex and his brother Mike say Lefty's and Treehouse are the last bars standing when it comes to extended patios.
They told AM800 News they're only on board for the Memorial Cup weekend because the city is footing the bill.
Come August they'll be bowing out and their neighbour Treehouse is calling it quits as well. They were the only two bars willing to pay for extended patio events the previous August.
Lefty's is one of five businesses that were on board when the road closures began between University Ave. and Park St. in 2011, according to Mike.
The Dugout, Mazaar's, Treehouse and Vermouth were Involved when costs hovered around $3,000 split between them during the four weekends in August.
Around 2015 Mike says the Special Events Resource Team or "SERT" became involved in planning and that's when the price skyrocketed to nearly $8,000.
Alex says SERT simply priced everyone out of the market in the summer of 2015.
"It jumped from $3,000 to $8,000 for the month but then three of the businesses dropped out that were involved. Leaving only two of us to cover the cost," Alex says."So it basically went from $500 a weekend to $2,000 a weekend. There's no profit left."
The SERT team determines what safety and security measures are required for an event.
One of those security measures is policing, and Mike says the price jump from added Windsor Police personnel was too much for everyone to absorb.
With a strong police presence already downtown on weekends, the brothers argue extended patios shouldn't be considered an event.
"It shouldn't be considered an event like Bluesfest or whatever's down at the river. Down at the river you're in a certain area where police normally aren't there," says Mike. "Police are already on Ouellette, and now they're asking us to privately pay for more? They'd have to be there for the usual crowd anyways."
Mike says business owners aren't asking for anything other than a fair price.
Before SERT stepped in he says bar owners were only required to provide licensed security on their patios, with police taking care of the streets as they normally would any weekend.
"We're not actually asking for anything, we just told them we can't afford to do the street closures anymore in the month of August. It's up to them, how they do it," Mike says. "I know the BIA is trying to work things out where they could possibly help us but it doesn't look good right now."
Ouellette Ave. will be closed the Friday May 19 to Sunday May 21.
The pair say unless police bend on the price, or SERT drops paying for additional police from their requirements, Memorial Cup Weekend will be their last extended patio event of the summer.