Antler’s Tavern and the Smoking Ban
In July, 2005, Madison’s stiff smoking ordinance went into effect, banning smoking in all workplaces. The purpose of the ordinance was to protect workers from secondhand smoke, including workers in restaurants and taverns, just about the only workplace left where a person could have a smoke.
The Taverns
Naturally, local taverns were afraid of losing business–especially from the regulars who belly up to the bar to sip and puff the hours away. Some did lose business. A few even closed, though the cause may have been normal attrition.
One of the most militant ban-the-ban businesses has been Antler’s Tavern, a establishment that’s been in the family of Homer Simpson (real name) elder and Homer Simpson the younger for 63 years.
Antler’s Tavern is a log-walled, shake-roofed male bastion on Madison’s south side. It’s like so many Wisconsin taverns– a big bar and probably a grill where you can get a basic burger or brat. At one time, Antler’s was a great spot to stop for a beer after fishing, but the city’s grown around it and the old gang’s mostly gone.
Establishments like Antler’s on the fringes of the city have been hardest hit by the ban. Their customers don’t have far to go to find a bar outside town that welcomes smokers.
Signs of Discontent
Well, the situation got Homer’s dander up. He started spending his spare time crafting a series of signs that he set up like a long row of dominoes on the grounds of the tavern. The signs were right next to what used to be the main drag into Madison before they dug into the marsh and built the beltline. People who want to avoid the beltline traffic still take the old route, where you couldn’t miss Homer’s signs.
They said things like: “Welcome to Madison, Anti-Small Business,” “Ban the Ban,” “The Ban’s Bad for Business,” leaving little doubt about where Homer stood on the issue.
Sign Up
The signs had been up for several weeks when I drove by one day and saw the giant billboard that rose up out of Homer’s sea of small signs. The anti-smokers had rented the billboard and it said something along the lines of, “Go ahead and smoke. Who cares if your breath smells like a sewer.”
Homer’s signs disappeared about the same time the billboard was changed to an ad for Volkswagens.
