As other Baton Rouge bars have struggled to remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Revelry remains open and manages to keep busy. Most nights you will see a line of people waiting to get into the bar, which opened at its Highland Road location in January. 
While they faced closures early on after the initial COVID-19 outbreak in Baton Rouge, they are able to remain open now due to a temporary restaurant permit obtained through the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, according to co-owner Alex Eddy. Everyone who enters the bar has their temperature checked and are required to purchase a food ticket.
Construction management senior Liam McCloskey has visited the bar numerous times since the pandemic has started, and appreciates the location being open for students.
“With the cover at the Revelry you’re getting fries included, so they can abide by the law and remain open,” McCloskey said. “Same thing with the Bulldog, it’s a nice little loophole. It is sneaky, but I’m happy that they are doing it, this place would suck if they weren’t open.”

While some students are happy that the Revelry remains open despite the ongoing pandemic, University students who live near the bar express disdain for the establishment.
Mass communication junior Zane Piontek lives directly behind the bar and is only 50 feet away from the back fence of the Revelry, which is where the outdoor stage sits.
“Between 5 and 6 p.m., their music will come on and honestly there is no way to predict how loud it’s going to be,” Piontek said. “There will just be hooting and hollering constantly.”
A concern for some students is the size of the crowds that attend the bar; they are alarmed at the sight of students crowded around one another and around the entrance with no masks. COVID-19 cases on campus have increased from a couple dozen at the start of the semester to the current number of cases, 1,015.
“I’ve seen big crowds a couple of times from The Revelry and the Chimes,”  Piontek said. “Sometimes I see the two crowds mushed together into a mass of people, which is pretty indicative of the problem that’s going on there. On the nights when it’s super busy, I can peak through the fence to the Revelry and just see a sea of college students who aren’t wearing masks.”
International studies and French junior Jack Rittenberry, who lives and works nearby the Revelry, also witnessed crowds of students not wearing masks while going to the Revelry. He said the business should stop operating like a typical bar.
“I’d like to see them operate as an actual and normal food establishment and go to table service if they’re gonna choose to operate as a restaurant, instead of using that as an excuse to operate as a bar, “ Rittenberry said. 
Rittenberry doesn’t believe that the students attending the Revelry are at fault, and instead questions how authorities allow the bar to remain open in the current conditions.
“I’m sure LSUPD and the LSU administration and BRPD and the city will all say, ‘Hey, well they shouldn’t be doing those kinds of behaviors’,” Rittenberry said. “What I would say to them is that they shouldn’t allow for a space to be open in which people can go and be in these in these unsafe situations.”
BRPD failed to comment on the Revelry.
But assuming the Revelry is following all the guidelines required for it to obtain the temporary restaurant permit that allows it to operate, they are legally able to operate.
LSU Student Health Center Director of Wellness and Health Promotion Rebecca Fontenot said the guidelines set upon businesses by the CDC is some of the best information available regarding safety practices.
“The practices these businesses are implementing are based off of guidelines set by the CDC, so that’s some of the best knowledge and guidance they could be receiving,” Fontenot said.
Regardless of the Revelry’s adherence to established safety guidelines, Piontek believes the owners are motivated by greed in how they are operating their business.
 “Get your heads out of your pockets,” Piontek said. “There’s nothing that can be said to them because at the end of the day, they are going to do what they can to make as much money as they can within the established CDC guidelines. As we’ve already seen, there are plenty of loopholes in those guidelines to allow things like this to happen.”