Wednesday, November 25, 2009

LET THE EXODUS BEGIN!

I find myself up early this morning and I can see folks rushing off to work or to the airport, luggage in tow. That means only one thing: The annual Thanksgiving exodus has begun. Today marks one of the busiest travel days of the year as people try to make their way home to visit family and friends for the Thanksgiving Holiday Break, which runs from Thursday through Sunday. While many of you will be rushing to beat the holiday traffic out of town, there are a number of folks making their way INTO NYC to enjoy the holidays here. Why come into NYC for Thanksgiving?

1) Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Millions of people from around the country are enamored with this clusterf*** of a parade and want to experience it firsthand. And for what? It's usually brutally cold; There's always that fear of one of the floats knocking over a street light and conking you on the head. And to be quite honest with you, I'm not a fan of being sandwiched in a crowd. While it's probably cool to check out ONCE, personally it's a ritual best enjoyed from the comfort of your living room. But who am I to judge?

2) BLACK FRIDAY. It is organized chaos at its best and there are plenty of foreign visitors who eagerly look forward to this day to capitalize on the weak dollar and shop for all of their relatives (and in some cases, neighbors). Add to the mix the hoards of locals looking to get that must-have gift or jump on the ridiculous 3am sales and you get one hell of a headache. Wear protective clothing and headgear, as you will certainly need it.

3) Ice Skating at Rockefeller Center and THE TREE. While the official lighting of the Rockefeller Tree isn't until next week, the tree itself is up and ice skating is readily available for those shoppers looking to take a break. Tourists and romantics also clamor for some time on the ice, just to say they did it.

4) Sightseeing and enjoying the tourist trappings that NYC has to offer. For some reason, coming to NYC during this time of the year is attractive for tourists. Between the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Ground Zero, and Central Park, tourists seem to feel that this time of year is the best time to enjoy these landmark places. I think they are nuts. It's too damn cold to trek all around the city to wait in lines to see these things. Then again, they probably don't know any better.

I'm sure there are other reasons for coming to the Big Apple for Thanksgiving, but that's just me thinking off the top of my head. I'm sure whatever reason folks may have for coming to NYC on Thanksgiving, they will make the most of their time here.

TONIGHT: Join us for some PRE-THANKSGIVING CHEER before taking off for your weekend! With $4 Labatt's Blue, Goose Island and Mixed Well Drinks (for ladies) and $15 Miller High Life buckets all night long, what better way to kick off your holiday break? We're also serving up our famous Wild Turkey/Cran shots all night long!

AND FINALLY: 25 years ago today, singer BOB GELDOLF got together a group of British music stars to produce a song to raise funds and awareness for the starving children of Ethiopia. The song, "Do They Know It's Christmas" became a mega hit and raised millions for the cause and spun off similar efforts by celebrities all over the world.



We're closed for Thanksgiving Day but will re-open on Friday, November 27th! Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for your continued support!


That's It. That's All I Got.