LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — On New Year's Day evening, some bars and restaurants in downtown Lexington had a "New Year's Eve do-over" becausea bomb scareforced them to evacuate Thursday night.
We now know there were no explosives in an RV parked downtown, but some places lost a lot of business during what's already been a tough year.
Elixir owner Stephen Scaldaferri said his first intention of the new year was to give his customers and staff the New Year's Eve celebration they missed out on the night before.
"Did we lose a lot of business?" Scaldaferri questioned. "We absolutely did, but in reality, we've lost business pretty much every day this year."
Only opened six months, Elixir sold out on New Year's Eve at its reduced capacity.
Scaldaferri viewed it as the restaurant's coming out party, so when that plan was upended, he figured why not do it again through the weekend.
He zeroed out everyone's tabs and kept the same menu and decorations to try and recreate as much as he could for customers and staff.
"I wanted a chance to really toast my staff, so we're gonna do a champagne toast late on tonight," he said Friday night.
Only two groups fully committed to returning Friday night, but the champagne was flowing early on.
"This is New Year's Eve," customer Katy Sebastian said. "This is New Year's Eve right now."
LEX18 spoke with two couples who were through their second course Thursday night and sipping on some bourbon when police officers walked in.
"They came in and said, 'you have to leave,' customer Greg Maddox said. "And I was like 'can I please take this with me please?' and they wouldn't let me, so I was sad the rest of the evening."
But they were back on New Year's Day evening. They were ready for the same menu and sitting at the same table, and the only difference was that across the street, the RV was gone.
The RV owner and his family packed up and headed back to Michigan Friday.
"Well, I just feel bad for the people that were enjoying New Year's Eve having a great time at the bars or whatever," owner Victor Carmona said.
But for those who were available, customers did get a chance at a do-over.
