Howard Greninger
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
The Ballyhoo Tavern today becomes the first smoke-free bar in Terre Haute, a move the business’s manager says is a result of the desires of its customers.
The tavern will still offer about 40 seats on outside patios on both sides of the business, complete with outdoor televisions, for patrons who wish to smoke.
“We have seen a change in our customers’ expectations when they come out to bars and restaurants,” said Jay Knott, general manager of the Ballyhoo Tavern at Ninth and Chestnut streets in Terre Haute, next to the campus of Indiana State University.
Knott said when Vigo County enacted a clean indoor air ordinance in 2006, effective July 1, 2007, many people “didn’t understand that bars and some other businesses were exempt. We get people asking if it is OK to smoke in here.
“Bloomington has already switched [to no smoking] and Indianapolis has already switched and legislation will come down for the state soon, I have a feeling,” Knott said.
“We just think the customer has changed,” Knott said. “The smoking phenomenon is not what it used to be, there just aren’t nearly as many people who smoke as there used to, but there are a lot more people nowadays that are conditioned to really dislike smoking, especially around food.”
“We thought it was time to make a change and make a statement that we agree with those people and we want it to be a comfortable atmosphere for everyone,” Knott said. “We have seating for smokers, to smoke outside and still be on our property and in the business … and they can still enjoy that same kind of bar atmosphere and smoke outside if need be.
“We have seen the demand [for nonsmoking] on our end of it, so we will make the change,” Knott said.
The Ballyhoo Tavern’s smoke-free environment comes on the heels of the Vigo County Board of Health seeking to change the county’s clean indoor air ordinance to ban smoking in all bars and restaurants, even if they already have “smoking rooms.”
Vigo County currently has seven restaurants with separate smoking rooms, said Joni Foulkes, administrator of the county health department. The county ordinance does not apply to civic, fraternal or private organizations that require memberships for entry to their facilities.
The Board of Health seeks to remove all exemptions from the ordinance after 2012. Under the current ordinance, bars are exempt from amendments or addendums to the county ordinance. That measure was to last for five years, until July 1, 2012.
That is the date the Vigo County Health Department, on behalf of the Board of Health, has sought from the Vigo County Board of Commissioners to make effective a revised clean indoor air ordinance banning smoking in all restaurants and bars/taverns, even those that have separate enclosed smoking rooms with wall-to-ceiling dividers with separate ventilation.
Brian Hart, general manager of Garfield’s Restaurant & Pub at the Honey Creek Mall, said the business had been nonsmoking, but returned to a separate smoking area in September 2009 after a change in ownership.
“Smoking does help our bar and definitely helps our karaoke area, and that is why we went back to it,” Hart said. “Yet, I don’t think it would affect the bar if everyone was nonsmoking.”
Hart said the company’s investment in making a separate smoking room benefited the business by creating a space where big-screen televisions could be placed. That television area would remain, he said, if the county became smoke-free in bars.
“As far as the overall business, being nonsmoking really didn’t affect us, as opposed to just bars, because we are a restaurant. People come here more for the food than our bar,” Hart said.
“With this being a chain, we have had to go nonsmoking in other states, such as Michigan which just recently changed,” Hart said.
Michigan banned smoking in all restaurants, bars and businesses, including hotels and motels, on May 1.
Commissioner Paul Mason said Tuesday that commissioners have turned the issue over to the county attorney for a review on how the ordinance could be amended. Mason said commissioners have not reached any decision, adding that commissioners could also decide not to make any changes at all in the current clean indoor air ordinance.
Foulkes said an amended ordinance would give notice to all newly constructed restaurants that if a smoking room is built, smoking would cease under the ordinance in 2012.
“This is not about smokers’ rights, but about workplace protection, as employees have a right to work in safe and healthy environment,” Foulkes said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@ tribstar.com
