Throngs of people descended on Pitt Meadows’ Roosters Country Cabaret on Saturday for a last chance to party at the iconic bar.
The local institution is shutting its doors for good on Sunday night, after more than two decades in business.
Dan Lisik has worked at Roosters for years, and said he’d rarely seen a scene like Saturday night, with some people waiting in line for more than three hours in hopes of getting inside.
“Epic,” he said. “The last time I saw a lineup as big as last night is when we announced Aaron Pritchett’s band’s last night, and I’ll never forget the lineup that night myself.
“The police wouldn’t let even people with manager cards into the parking lot; they’d shut it down. Fire department had managed the doors to make sure capacity was held.”
WATCH: Maple Ridge restaurant forced to close because of road work (August, 2018)
Lisik said there was no single reason for the business shutting down, but that times, and the industry, had changed.
But he said many people in Pitt Meadows have a lasting attachment to the club, which boasts B.C.’s biggest dance floor, five cent wings and a mechanical bull.
“I think for a lot of these people it’s nostalgia,” Lisik said. “These people aren’t coming week-in week-out, it’s the fact that a lot of people met their spouses here, they met their best friend here, and they’re coming back for one last memory.”
As for closing night, Lisik said Roosters has put out an open invitation to anyone who had ever performed on its stage to come down and have one last song.
“I don’t think anyone knows what to expect with the crowds. I know the jive around town here is that a lot of people will try and come down, but yeah, it will be a lot of the older regulars, the originals,” he said.
“Anybody that has plans of trying to get in should come early tonight.”
The space is reportedly being taken over by a Surrey-based hospitality chain, with a new bar slated to open next fall.
— With files from Robyn Crawford