AKRON, Ohio — Akron restaurants and night clubs still facing pandemic fallout could get a much-needed boost with the city’s newly expanded downtown outdoor refreshment area, or DORA.
A DORA enables patrons of permitted establishments that serve alcohol to purchase a special cup for $1 to carry an alcoholic beverage around outside within the DORA boundary. Drinks can’t be carried into another bar though — even ones participating in the DORA. A new cup and drink have to be purchased.
“The DORA can only be positive, I think, for all of us and for and for downtown in particular,” said Jill Bacon-Madden who owns Jilly’s Music Room.
Jilly’s shares the Northside District with Dante Boccuzzi Akron, Luigi’s, Northside Marketplace and an array of art galleries and studios. The district was part of the original DORA.
“I think on a nice night out, people would love, and wouldn't mind spending an extra buck for the door cup, to be able to walk from the [Marriot] hotel down to Lock 3, or to walk around the neighborhood or to grab a cocktail from me and stand in the line at Luigi’s.”
Akron’s inaugural DORA, approved in 2020, included businesses in the central area of downtown on South Main Street near the city-owned Lock 3 Park.
“The DORA has been a huge success for our participating businesses so far and we've heard from bars, restaurants and breweries up and down Main Street and beyond about wanting to be included,” Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said in a news release.
Akron’s DORA now encompasses about 40 businesses and covers a large swath of downtown from R. Shea Brewing at 540 S. Main St. to Lock 15 Brewing at 21 W. North St.
Akron’s expanded DORA also comes just in time for the annual Akron Pride Festival set for Saturday, Aug. 27 in downtown. Pride fest attendees will be able to go anywhere within the festival footprint and be within the DORA, the city said.
The boost the DORA could bring Akron’s downtown bars and restaurants couldn’t be more welcome, Bacon Madden said.
Bacon Madden was active member of the National Independent Venue Association, which formed quickly in 2020 and championed for performance venues across the country to receive the pandemic assistance most needed to survive the lockdown. The Shuttered Venue Operators Grants finally arrived in late 2021.
Since then, venues like Jilly’s, which rely more on liquor sales than food, have struggled with the slow return of wary patrons as the pandemic produces subsequent variants followed by monkey pox, just as inflation is sending prices sky high.
“We're all done. We're all tired,” she said.
Akron’s downtown businesses also lost patrons when the police shooting of Jayland Walker in June prompted protests that resulted in downtown property damage.
“Everyone thought all of downtown was on fire,” Bacon Madden said. “It's the headlines. Every day, when I get a news update, I know what's going to happen to my business.”
Still, she’s hopeful the DORA expansion will have a positive impact on business — if things like security and trash management can be worked out.
“I think it's going to help and be nice,” she said. “It could be a massive nightmare and it could be really great. We'll see.”
Read a Q&A about Akron’s DORA online.