Hi Everyone!
I just wanted to touch base on all the post about Q BAR that have been on this social media site and others over the last couple of months. Just to be clear the outdoor live music is now over and I have no plans on bringing it back to back to Q BAR Darien. The main person in question has already stated in writing that she has no issue with what we do inside only the outside music. BUT like any good activist does, she is already trying to change her stance on that by commenting today that 'maybe the inside music might be the problem also' (I'm paraphrasing her comment). A few things about this post. First of all I'm ONLY going to post facts (not opinions or feelings which is the bulk of what I'm reading). Secondly everything that I post will be a fact to dispute a claim made by someone on this site, so if you are unsure why I'm typing something, that is the reason. Finally I'm only going to respond if anyone shows proof that anything I state in this post is factually inaccurate. Most of what I'm reading from people on-line or a person with multiple online aliases is false and I will try to touch on each. I don't even know the main posters real name (could be Kaaiilliee Thom, Mikaila Moore, Kailie Soleil, Tomm Soleil, etc) as she has never reached out to me and uses so many different aliases on different sites it is tough to keep track. If I reference her below I will use KS as that is the name she uses on this site.
First a little background on the situation. My parents moved into Darien in 1974. I have lived in Darien or very close by since I was born. I went to school here, played DYC, worked for the Darien park district, worked for the DYC, started my first business here, ect. So for anyone to say that I don't love Darien is beyond insulting. I love Darien and would never do anything I felt harmed the City or way of life. I have owned Q Bar since 2001 but the bar has been there since the early 1990's (Le Cue was the name). We have had live music playing inside as part of my business since 2003. It's a location of mine that I love (due to my ties to Darien) including growing up on Emerson Drive and that I owned a house on Linden Ave. So to the people who said I don't care about the community, it couldn't be farther from the truth.
In March of 2020 as everyone knows COVID hit. We were forced to close. That is when the Mayor of Darien allowed myself (and all businesses in Darien) to operate outdoors so that we could stay in business. I explained to the Mayor that music was a large part of what we do and he allowed us to hold music outside during restricted hours. We were allowed until 10pm on weekdays and 11pm on weekends. So all the crazy stories about music outside until 3am-4am are lies. We stopped all outdoor music in 2020 around the end of September. We NEVER had outdoor bands after that date as stated by a person with too much time on her hands (in my opinion). We did not have bands play in Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, March or April as has been stated. Anyone who lives in Illinois knows how absurd that statement is (where as someone from a warm state like CA may not). If the Mayor of Darien would not have allowed the outdoor music during the SUMMER of 2020, I would have went out of business. For that I'm extremely grateful to the Mayor and the City. Although I have read multiple post that stated 'we should have just went out of business', I want to you know how cold-hearted that is. I know that myself, thousands of Darien residents who enjoy what we offer, my 25-30 employees and families, my vendors, cleaning services, sub contractors ect.... would strongly disagree. Plus know that many of my employees, vendors and sub contractors are Darien residents with children and by us staying open they were able to continue taking care of their families as well.
So that brings us to 2021. Understand that bands, promotion, sound engineers ect are not booked weeks out but rather months out. As the State of Illinois was unsure about our ability to open inside (or if further shut downs would come) the Mayor sent out an email allowing ALL Darien businesses (not just Q Bar) to do the same thing they did in 2020. So I began to set up our summer schedule in late March beginning of April. We held a car show for the Darien Chamber of Commerce which had a DJ from about 6pm to 9pm, a DJ on Thursday night from 7pm to 10p, an acoustic act or DJ on Friday from 6-11pm, a band on Saturday from 8pm to 11pm and sometimes a band or acoustic act on Sunday from 4pm to 8pm. NEVER did we go past those allowable hours. To prove that I did I'm pretty sure K.S. has a cell phone (as she seems to be online non-stop) with a camera who could have recorded that with a time stamp, showing a video of music AFTER the allowable hours. Even better she could have recorded her toilets shaking, things falling off walls and out of cabinets as she stated had occurred. EVEN better then that she could have downloaded a decibel meter (takes under 2 minutes) on her phone sometime in the last 5 months to show how loud things were. Of course she did nothing of the sort. All of the entertainment was booked before summer when we were unsure on the state of being able to be open inside. While in 2020 we had almost no noise complaints (that I was made aware of), 2021 was a different story. Two new people who moved into the area in 2020 both complained many, many, many times. At one point in July over 90% of all complaints to the police department came from 2 phone numbers (you can FOIA it). At Q Bar we only received two phone calls regarding the noise (not the everyday calls as K.S. stated) and NEVER did we "turn it up when she called" as she stated. Not only that but K.S NEVER reached out to me personally, via email, letter or phone call and my information very easy to get. This was proven by Bromley Simon the 'gentleman' who posted my home address. Also a big thank you to Earl Ellison who said maybe dynamite should be brought to me. Please note that use of the term 'gentleman' is being used very loosely in this case. In my opinion both of them are scumbags for the comments they made inciting violence at my home. I digress....when the complaints did come in about the noise I did take them seriously as I would never want to disturb people or at least keep any disruption to a bare minimum. I voluntarily shortened the weekend end times to 10:30pm, added sound proofing backdrops, made sure all bands (and DJ) speakers faced the building instead of Cass, and worked with the entertainment to play quieter then they normally would have. Of course as we all know....that wasn't enough. KS called the police many days (often when we didn't even have live music outside lol) to complain. Darien PD came all the time. We were cited ONE time because earlier in the week the sound deading backdrops were damaged by the storm, got repaired but my staff forgot to rehang them before the band started. So for everyone who said the DPD had their hands tied, the only reason they didn't act was because we weren't breaking laws / rules. When we did break the rule / agreement we were cited for doing so. FYI someone has to break a law or rule and then the police act, not just because YOU don't like something. All of the outdoor music we had in 2021 (just a reminder to KS that it is over now) was within the hours I stated, which is what was allowed by the City to help a business that has been in Darien for over 30 years now survive. I understand that some people were inconvenienced this summer and I am truly sorry about that. We would have 100% rather run our business inside instead of outside but due to COVID it wasn't possible as contacts were done months in advance of the summer. Please know that trying to run an inside business was tough for us as well and not what we wanted by any means. I'm also sorry to the DPD for all the wasted time they had because they had to constantly answer calls mostly from one person, waste their time responding (as that is the rule) when everyone knew nothing would come of it as the rules were being followed.
That then brings us to Darien Fest. While I don't know the reason the park district and Darien Chamber couldn't work things out, I will comment on things that I do know (the facts). Due to COVID the Chamber wasn't able to hold a 2020 fest. The fest is a main fundraiser for the Chamber's operating budget. Due to no fest in 2020, the Chamber was in rough shape financially going into 2021 just as many businesses and non-profits are. Along with that the Chamber also didn't know if they could even hold a fest in 2021 due to the possible State restrictions. Just as I stated above things for a fest (such as bands, stages, lighting, food vendors, ect) is something that would be set up months in advance. When the Chamber finally was aware they could in fact hold a fest it was only about 3-4 weeks before the date of the fest. I agreed to help the Chamber with aspects of the fest that were in my realm of experience. On very short notice I was able to find a stage, lights, sound engineer and book entertainment. As the Chamber had a very tight budget, I agreed to up front all the cost with the hope I could recover most / all of it through sales of food & beverage but with no guarantee of breaking even. I tried to get other food venders to participate but most of them said with a lack of staff (very common right now in the hospitality industry) and such short notice they could not join in. So I grabbed staff from my other places and we did the best we could to try and service the food needs of the fest. It was a very taxing weekend as we are short staffed as well. I know a bunch of people commented about how much money Q Bar made. Just to set the record straight Q Bar made ZERO profit from the fest and not only that but helped the Chamber pay some of the cost. After Q Bar recovered the cost we paid up front (with no guarantee of getting it back if it rained or was slow for example) for entertainment / show expenses, extra employee cost and cost of goods we gave 100% of the sales done to the Chamber. Not only that but we donated our parking lot to the Chamber at no cost and reimbursed the Chamber the large portion of the cost for the extra DPD required. I also credited a tenant who felt they lost revenue due to the fest (even though they were offered to participate in it). I think the fest went great and was VERY family friendly. Most people I heard talking or spoke to actually liked it better in my lot instead of the park. So in response to all the people bashing Q Bar and myself personally......maybe you should know some semblance of facts before speaking out.
Finally to address KS and her supporters who say that somehow Q Bar is too tied into the city because of all that Q Bar does, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Darien was founded in 1969. I have lived here the majority of my life starting in 1974. So because I choose to donate to organizations in the area like the Lions Club, Chamber of Commerce, local VFW groups, hold fundraisers for local groups ect.... shouldn't be a surprise. I love Darien and try to give back whenever I can. Instead of asking why Q Bar does all the stuff that it does, why don't you ask other local businesses why they don't do more, or even better yet look in the mirror and ask yourself why YOU don't do more? Maybe instead of wasting all your time on multiple social media sites (not just this one) you could donate your time and money to the community they live WHICH would make Darien an even better place to live.
As I stated above everything I wrote is a fact. I will not respond to anyone for any reason, unless the show proof that anything I said is untrue (FYI a video during the allowed hours of operation in which you can still hear crickets and cars cover the sound of music isn't proof).
Unfortunately many of you are taking statements made by KS that are not factually accurate and commenting how terrible myself and Q BAR are. Please know the FACTS above and then I will care about your opinion.
To anyone who wants a response from me, understand your feelings don't equal facts, so please learn the difference.
Have a great day!