O’Blarney’s Regulars Enjoyed One Last Hurrah Before Bar Closures Across the State

Monday night wasn’t the St. Patrick’s Day Eve that O’Blarney’s Irish Pub in Centralia had anticipated.

A few hours earlier, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that all restaurants, bars and recreational facilities would be closed, effective Tuesday.

It made Monday night the final hurrah for patrons of O’Blarney’s until at least April 1, when the suspension is supposed to be lifted, though Inslee said it could be extended.

The declaration — though it could be responsible for saving lives when all is said and done — seemed to have caused uncertainty to swell down North Tower Avenue and inside O’Blarney’s.

At around 7:45 p.m. on Monday, Centralia’s North Tower Avenue looked comparatively bleak from the usual evening activity you would see.

O’Blarney’s employees would have been gearing up for 

one of the bar’s biggest nights of the year, but now, most of them were at home dealing with the fact they were without a job until the suspension is lifted.

Instead, a couple employees accompanied by a handful of regulars were at the bar to take in the last few moments before the establishment they have grown to love would close up shop for at least two and a half weeks.

Sitting around the circular bar in the center of the establishment, the bar’s regulars engaged in some friendly banter.

One man from across the bar read aloud from his phone, “Hey, Tom Hanks is recovering!”

The folks sitting around the bar let out a cheer. 

The interaction was evidence that although the feeling of impending uncertainty was on everyone’s mind to varying degrees — and there was plenty of disagreement in regard to how the coronavirus outbreak was being handled — a sense of humor and optimism was not entirely lost amongst the group.

And perhaps the patrons who were enjoying each other’s company, despite not seeing eye-to-eye on what is being done to limit the spread, could be seen as a microcosm of the general sentiment toward the coronavirus — there’s a good deal of disagreement on the details, but overall, there’s a strong conviction that a light at the end of the tunnel exists.

As John Wakefield, a long-time regular of O’Blarney’s, dramatically put it, “we will rise from the ashes.” And as Wakefield made the proclamation, the fellow regulars surrounding him cosigned the statement with nods of approval.

Seth Mobley and John Callivan, two cooks for O’Blarney’s who said they would be unemployed as of Wednesday, were not shy about their disapproval of Inslee suspending activities in bars and restaurants.

Mobley characterized the suspension as an “overreaction,” “unnecessary” and inconsiderate to those who make a living from the restaurant industry.

Callivan, who said a part of him entertains conspiracy theories, hasn’t dismissed the notion that the coronavirus could be a secret plot of some sort just yet.

He added that those ideas don’t occupy too much space in his mind mainly because if the severity of coronavirus is as true as the reports suggests they are, it hits close to home. Callivan’s parents, who live in California, are immunocompromised and had to put plans of visiting him on hold while the coronavirus outbreak ensued, he said.

But both Mobley and Callivan said they aren’t frustrated because the closures directly impact their livelihoods, they’re frustrated because it is affecting co-workers, friends and the bar that Mobley called “a home away from home.”

“I’m not worried, there are things I can do to support my family ...,” Mobley said. “But I mean, no St. Patrick’s Day for an Irish pub? That’s just crazy.”

That attitude didn’t quite connect with a woman, who asked to remain nameless in this story, sitting on the opposite side of the bar from Mobley and Gallivan.

She wasn’t as quick to share her opinion on the matter, but she thought all the preventative measures being taken in the face of the coronavirus were entirely warranted. But like Mobley and Gallivan, it broke her heart to realize employees of her favorite bar will surely struggle in the interim

“These bartenders are some of our favorite people in the world,” she said.

Chris Bruce, who sat with Wakefield to his left and Mobley and Gallivan to his right, didn’t offer his take on whether he was frustrated or pleased by the suspension of bars and restaurants. He came to O’Blarney’s Monday night to find comfort in the companionship he has developed with the regulars.

He also wanted to relieve the stress caused by owning two restaurants, The Branch in Centralia and The Shire in Chehalis, and being responsible for laying off most of his staff.

“I’m trying to keep them employed for as long as I can,” Bruce said. “I’m 42 years old and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

When asked if there was any bright side to look to, He said he thought that maybe ingenuity will take on a new life in response to the coronavirus. And once the threat of the disease has resided, industries will maintain the reinvigorated sense of ingenuity and will improve performance because of it.

And as chatter about what the silver lining — if there is one at all — might be, some of the other regulars chimed in. A man, who asked to remain nameless in this story, may have hit the nail on the head.

“I think it’s caring for our home, caring for our community,” he said. “The common denominator of everyone sitting here is that everyone is concerned for the community.”

O’Blarney’s will be accepting to-go orders this Friday and Saturday from noon to 8 p.m. To make an order, call (360) 807-4581.