Note, Dec. 20: Babes Bar has reopened after receiving permission from a state fire inspector, the owners told VTDigger.
A pickup truck collided with two cars and hit the side of Babes Bar in Bethel on Saturday, destroying a fire escape and cracking a brick wall, according to the bar’s owners.
No one was injured in the crash, whose cause appeared to be the pickup truck driver’s “medical event,” Vermont State Police said in a press release. Babes was forced to cancel its Queer Dance Party event that night and remains closed while the owners gather more information about the damage.
At about 12:25 p.m. on Saturday, the pickup truck — a Chevy Silverado — was traveling down Main Street in Bethel when it crossed the yellow line and crashed into two vehicles, according to police. It then veered into Babes’ parking lot and slammed into the building.
Co-owner Owen Daniel-McCarter, who was several doors down from the bar at the time of the crash, said he heard “screeching tires” and the sound of accelerating cars, so he ran out to see what happened.
“I asked somebody, ‘Was it a hit-and-run?’ and they said, ‘No, they drove into the parking lot over there,’” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, no, that’s our parking lot!’”
The crash shook the building hard enough to push the one of the bar’s keg handles open and knocked bottles of alcohol off their shelves, leaving broken glass everywhere, Daniel-McCarter said.
“I was pretty stunned. My first thought was, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re supposed to have a huge dance party tonight,’” said co-owner Jesse Plotsky.
The mess inside turned out to be fixable with a mop and some cleaning. But the pickup truck also left a hairline crack in the wall, raising concerns about possible structural damage, Daniel-McCarter said.
The 172-year-old building was the site of a train station until the 1970s, he said. The owners are bringing in a historic masonry expert to inspect the crack. If it’s just cosmetic, they hope to rebuild the fire escape as quickly as possible and, “best case scenario,” reopen by next week.
Babes’ owners opened the bar in 2018 after moving to Vermont from Chicago. The bar is known for its LGBTQ+ community support and events such as its Queer Dance Party.
December events like New Year’s Eve are some of the bar’s most well-attended nights of the year, putting even more pressure on Babes to reopen as quickly as possible. They still plan to sell holiday merchandise on their website, Daniel-McCarter said.
He added that the response from the community so far had been “magical.”
“The day of, people are driving by and they’re offering help,” he said. “We’ve had offers from contractors, carpenters, vendors, (and) other businesses,” like Good Measure Brewing Company, Kuya’s at One Main in Randolph and Cockadoodle Pizza Cafe in Bethel. “People have just been so awesome and very supportive. Lots of love, lots of encouragement. It’s kind of amazing, actually.”
Although no one was injured in the crash, the driver of the pickup truck was taken to the hospital for a medical evaluation, according to state police. Authorities did not disclose the driver’s condition as of Tuesday.
