Speaking Of Happy Hours…Proposal For Recurring Happy Hour(s)

[jrenaut]

This sounds good to me. I think otherwise we may run the risk of having to start a Kickstarter campaign to pay for WABA to hire a full-time Happy Hour Coordinator (I would love this job, btw).

[rcannon100]

Have you voted??

Preliminary straw poll of citizens as they left the polling booth

Shirlington 9 64%
Crystal City 9 64%
Rosslyn 7 50%
Ballston 8 57%
Vienna 3 21%
Falls Church 3 21%
Georgetown 8 57%
Columbia Heights 4 29%
Downtown Wash DC 9 64%
Capital Hill 7 50%
Foggy Bottom 9 64%
Other 3 21%
Rotate different locations different times 4 29%
Westover Beer Garden 4 29%

[Certifried]

@rcannon100 26256 wrote:

Have you voted??

Preliminary straw poll of citizens as they left the polling booth

Shirlington 9 64%
Crystal City 9 64%
Rosslyn 7 50%
Ballston 8 57%
Vienna 3 21%
Falls Church 3 21%
Georgetown 8 57%
Columbia Heights 4 29%
Downtown Wash DC 9 64%
Capital Hill 7 50%
Foggy Bottom 9 64%
Other 3 21%
Rotate different locations different times 4 29%
Westover Beer Garden 4 29%

Awesome! We’re up to a total of 566% so far!!

[jrenaut]

I can’t do Google Docs over the work VPN. I’ll vote later, but I’m good for pretty much anywhere.

[krazygl00]

@dasgeh 26248 wrote:

Thanks for setting up the survey. I think you’re missing Clarendon as a neighborhood.

I’d support setting the general direction for each week (first thursday = south) and then figuring out the exact bar the week before.

Or, we do every other week, with the first week of the month being central (DC/Rosslyn) and the third week of the month being one of the directions, and we could just rotate through the directions. Again, we’d just pick the exact neighborhood and bar as the week approaches.

I imagine our “center” of working-gravity is somewhere around 17th and K, with most people headed south and west, but plenty in other directions, from there.

Less work upfront, a bit more work and attention required on the back end, but the opportunity to try new places and switch days may get more people.

I’m worried this is getting a bit too complicated; I think that simplicity and predictability are the essential factors to making this work.

Yeah, we could try to cater to every single geographic and demographic area, we could have computerized distribution models and schedules to ensure even “Happy Hour Coverage”; then making heads or tails of the schedule and locations would become crazy. At some point you have to compromise for simplicity’s sake. Knowing that if it’s the first Thursday of the month then that always means Shirlington, for example, makes it a whole lot easier for people to attend.

I think Shirlington is pretty centrally located for the Arlington/Alexandria, and even some of the DC crowd, and it already gets a fair amount of bike traffic and is close to a major trail. Chasin’ Tails/Falls Church seems to have some issues, namely that it is already kind of redundant with Shirlington and that it is seen as convenient to commuters only. But eliminating this location really leaves the Fairfax/Vienna people out in the cold, and that’s a lot of riders. Perhaps a Vienna location would be a good replacement.

I also think that a Georgetown location would be good, as well as Clarendon. I think these four locations are convenient enough, to enough people:

1. Shirlington
2. Georgetown
3. Vienna
4. Clarendon

[jrenaut]

I’d much prefer a central DC location to Georgetown. Most of the bars down there somehow manage to even have the outdoor space smell like stale beer. I feel dirty just thinking about happy hour in Georgetown (Never mind that I met my wife at one of those awful bars).

[creadinger]

It’s way out of the way from Crystal City, but I would be totally up for meeting up at the Vienna Inn occasionally.

Is this place a good location for happy hours? I’ve never been. I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be with the combination of beer, bikes, and sausages.

http://www.viennainn.com/

Also, it would be out of the way for most people, but Old Town has some cool places to eat and drink too. Bilbo Baggins, and Haute Dogs once it opens. It’s a lot closer than Purcellville.

[krazygl00]

@jrenaut 26264 wrote:

I’d much prefer a central DC location to Georgetown. Most of the bars down there somehow manage to even have the outdoor space smell like stale beer. I feel dirty just thinking about happy hour in Georgetown (Never mind that I met my wife at one of those awful bars).

It also just occurred to me, we don’t need to decide on all of the locations in order to start this up, and I won’t presume to decide for others where they would rather go. I like Shirlington, and I feel pretty confident it is a popular choice, so how about:

First Thursday –
Second Thursday –
Third Thursday – Capitol City Brewing, Shirlington
Fourth Thursday –

If there are enough people in agreement, would it be possible to get the above as a forum “sticky”? Then if people decide on other locations they can be added to the sticky.

[Arlingtonrider]

I’d be up for a Vienna location on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, but I couldn’t get out there during the week.

[Tim Kelley]

@creadinger 26266 wrote:

It’s way out of the way from Crystal City, but I would be totally up for meeting up at the Vienna Inn occasionally.

Is this place a good location for happy hours? I’ve never been. I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be with the combination of beer, bikes, and sausages.

http://www.viennainn.com/

Also, it would be out of the way for most people, but Old Town has some cool places to eat and drink too. Bilbo Baggins, and Haute Dogs once it opens. It’s a lot closer than Purcellville.

Vienna Inn would be awesome for Happy Hours. They also do chili dogs too.

I was there last week: [ATTACH=CONFIG]1396[/ATTACH]

[Arlingtonrider]

Tim,

Would you be willing to put up a sticky for happy hours and other get-togethers?

[Tim Kelley]

@Arlingtonrider 26271 wrote:

Tim,

Would you be willing to put up a sticky for happy hours and other get-togethers?

Yes.

[rcannon100]

It’s really isnt that complicated.

First, only 24% of respondents indicate an interest in Vienna. That doesnt mean you cant do it. It just means it would be a small crowd.

53% of respondents indicate they are only interested in a monthly happy hour. The data suggests, I think it was Katherine’s comment, that having happy hours too often might potentially dilute attendance. Based on responses, that is potentially true.

Weekly 2 12%
Biweekly 5 29%
Monthly 9 53%

86% of respondents indicate that thursday night would be the best night (this is not a surprise)

As for guessing the right places to hold this, the data suggests that the center of the group is not downtown, but is in fact the river (this is what I would have guessed). Those locations near the river get high response rates – and the further you get away from the river, the lower the response rates. Basically, not next to the river, and the preference is less than 50%.

Shirlington 12 71%
Crystal City 12 71%
Rosslyn 9 53%
Ballston 10 59%
Vienna 4 24%
Falls Church 5 29%
Georgetown 10 59%
Columbia Heights 5 29%
Downtown Wash DC 10 59%
Capital Hill 8 47%
Foggy Bottom 10 59%
Other 4 24%
Rotate different locations different times 6 35%
Westover Beer Garden 6 35%

Hopefully we will get some more responses, but patterns are emerging that answer some questions.

[Arlingtonrider]

I think having a sticky will open all sorts of possibilities. I love the idea of people adding lots of get togethers to this in lots of different places, but keeping a regular monthly one (in Shirlington?) regardless.

[elcee]

How about a different procedure: someone volunteers to “host” a happy hour. The host then gets to choose the locale. That’s it!

[Author]

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