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Tacoma bar offers tents to customers who want to keep socially distant

The Camp Bar is trying something new to make customers happy campers.

TACOMA, Wash. — “The Camp Bar is like a little cabin in the middle of the city of Tacoma,” says Patrick Haight, who opened the downtown bar in 2017.

“I grew up in Eastern Washington. We used to go camping and hiking all the time and I thought why not have something that's kind of unique and different for the city of Tacoma?”

The camping theme means servers are called counselors and the walls are filled with woodsy landscape paintings.

“We also have table s'mores that we serve,” says Haight. “People can roast at the table and it is kind of fun. It is the only dessert that we serve.”

But the first thing you’ll notice when you walk in are a pair of transparent dining tents.

“I'm lovin it,” says Caitlin Hagberg, who is having a drink with a friend. “I love the Camp Bar. I've loved it for so long and to come in and actually get to "camp" at The Camp Bar is amazing.”

“I was thinking about how can we make the guest experience different when we open,” said Haight, who found out about a restaurant in Amsterdam that offered special self-isolation experiences : greenhouse dining.

“I thought well that's kind of fun I wonder if I could fit these inside the camp bar. So I looked around and I found these vinyl domes on Amazon and I ordered a couple of them and I brought them in and I just thought it totally fits with the camping theme.”

“Sitting in the tent you feel like you’re part of the crowd but you also feel like you're in your own little space,” says Lara Burton who is there with two friends. “It's cozy and comfortable and feels safe.”

Credit: KING TV
Caitlin Hagberg inside a dining tent

The tents are wiped down and sanitized between guests. At The Camp Bar counselors are doing whatever it takes to make customers happy campers.

“I am getting a lot of positive feedback,” says Haight. “People love it. I've had a number of people wanting to reserve the orbs or the the domes so it's been positive.”

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