Photo via St. Lawrence University

Last week, an article entitled “Pub 56: Hot Commodity or Lost Cause?” was published in this newspaper. The piece brought up several important criticisms of the space; namely its slow service and low food quality. The article also mentioned some issues with dollar beers and the well-known “french fry smell” often associated with Pub 56. As the Pub 56 Chair on ACE, I spend three nights a week in Pub 56 and am well aware of these deficiencies. However, I would like to take a moment to paint a different picture of Pub 56, one that is not often shown.

In Thelmo meetings and discussions with student leaders across campus, you often hear about the need to “fix” Pub 56. Unfortunately, you hear little about the many great aspects of Pub 56. For example, Pub 56 hosted two or more events a week this semester, each attended by anywhere between thirty to seventy people. Add that up and you find that Pub 56 has entertained over 700 people so far this semester, and that is a low estimate. While this number undoubtedly includes repeat visitors, it still means that roughly a quarter of our campus has been visiting Pub 56.

To look at it another way, let us compare the Pub 56 budget to the budgets of other event planning groups on campus. To put on the Java shows every week costs the school roughly $60,000 a year through ACE. To bring comedians to campus through ACE (many of which, admittedly, perform at Pub 56) costs roughly $20,000 a year. The Pub 56 event’s budget is only $5,000. Spending one twelfth of Java’s budget and only one quarter of comedy’s budget, Pub 56 manages to hold as many events as both groups combined. That makes Pub 56 one of the most efficient programming venues on campus.

The reason for this is because, at its core, Pub 56 is a space for the whole St. Lawrence community to use. Most of the programing is student driven and costs the school nothing. Events range from student band performances, to club organized trivia nights, to theme house fundraisers. The groups that run all of this programing are as diverse as the Arts Annex, Thelmo, and Greek Council. Any group can hold an event at Pub 56 and many do. That is the beauty of the space.

Let us be honest, people do not go to Pub 56 just for the food. While its mac & cheese bites are delicious, they take forever to come, especially on a busy night. Pub 56 is not the Hoot, and it does not pretend to be. Neither is Pub 56 competing with Java, which has a dedicated house of thirteen people running it and $60,000 dollars to spend. Instead, Pub 56 is something entirely different. It is a space for student performance, from experienced upperclassmen bands like American String Circus and Alpine Ghost to first time singers at Open Mic nights. It is a place to meet with your club and spread awareness about an issue while you enjoy a beer.

Sometimes you can stop by and watch a sports game, other times you can listen to your friends read poems. Alumni come back to perform at Pub 56 from as far away as Nashville and as close by as Long Lake. Pub 56 is not the Tick Tock with its drunken revelry, instead it is a chill atmosphere where everyone of age is allowed to enjoy a drink. You will not find anyone in danger of passing out within its walls.

Last week, this question was asked: why keep Pub 56 going on campus? The answer is simple. For all of its flaws, Pub 56 offers this campus something that no other space can. It is a little bit of everything and open to everyone. Pub 56 is exactly what the student body wants to make of it and, from what I have seen, the student body wants to keep making it a place to be.

If you have any interest in hosting an event at Pub 56 or just want to learn more about how to get involved, feel free to email me (carich14@stlawu.edu), or stop by the Student Information Desk