From Ruston to Baton Rouge, the bar featuring live music and boisterous entertainment is set to open its doors in the vacant Barcadia space on Jan. 9, 2020. 
Modeled after The Revelry of Ruston, The Revelry of Baton Rouge will feature an open floor plan with multiple bars, an outdoor patio and a stage for live music. The bar will have live acts a few times a month, gameday watch parties, and it will also be available for private events such as fraternity and sorority exchanges and grubs.  
LSU finance and MBA graduate Chris Harsch had been working as a regional financial analyst for six months when he left his desk job to open The Revelry of Ruston alongside LSU graduates Alex Eddy and Rob Owens. The friends worked together at Reggie’s in Tigerland where they gained firsthand experience and insight into the industry. 
The partners knew they would eventually bring the concept down to Baton Rouge, but it was about finding the right location that would allow for the amenities they needed to replicate the unique atmosphere for which The Revelry is renowned. The Barcadia location had always stood out. When it became available, the partners decided it was time to bring their successful concept within walking distance of LSU.  
“We’ve always wanted to take that concept and bring it down here, but it was about finding the right place,” Harsch said. “So, it’s a college bar, so it would have to be close to campus. We do live music and we have an awesome outdoor patio area up there, so we wanted to have as much of that available to us as we could to open it down here.”
The bar will feature light food options to accompany drinks, four daiquiri machines with alternating flavors and will bring back the Serrano’s frozen margarita for gamedays next year, a popular drink of the restaurant that occupied the space before Barcadia. With a focus on upperclassmen, the age of entry won’t be 18 and up but slightly older unlike other college bars in the area. 
“We have the restaurant in Ruston as well, so we’ll be able to pull a lot of ideas that we’ve had over the years for up there and bring it down here food-wise, especially on gamedays next year since we missed this football season,” Harsch said. “We’ve got some cool stuff we want to do.” 
Though there will be light and late night-type food available, the focus will remain on the bar, which will open for happy hour during the day. This sets The Revelry of Baton Rouge apart from its predecessors as Barcadia was a bar, restaurant and arcade and Serrano’s was a traditional restaurant. It also differentiates it from music venue The Varsity next door, making it a unique concept in the North Gate area.  
The bar was originally scheduled to open by the LSU-Florida game. The City of Baton Rouge permit delays halted construction, which pushed back the opening date. Once the second half of football season started, the partners decided to give themselves more time and open in the spring semester rather than around Thanksgiving break, finals and Christmas break.  
The bar is set to open Jan. 9, and updates will be announced as they become available on the bar’s Instagram account: @revelryofbr. With permits to convert the front parking lot into a patio, the Baton Rouge architectural firm is currently drawing up the plans as they continue inside remodels. It’s expected the patio area will be completely open mid-Spring 2020. 
“We’ve been open in Ruston for six years now and we love Baton Rouge. We love LSU,” Harsch said. “Me and my partners all went here and graduated from here, and we’re just happy to have another spot for LSU students to go to. We’re really looking forward to adding on to the North gate area.”