KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One Kansas City event space owner decided to close last-minute over COVID-19 concerns.
“It was something I was looking forward to with family and friends,” Nathan Duckworth said. “We really wanted to capture that moment of 2022 coming in.”
Earlier this week, Duckworth decided to shut down Level event space, Building Bridges Enterprise, concerned about partygoers’ health.
“I’ve been working on this event space for quite some time,” he said.
Duckworth just had his soft opening for Level along Main Street, an event space he was ready for the city to see with big plans for New Year’s Eve.
“Balloon drop, champagne — that’s not going to happen,” he said.
After recovering from COVID-19 himself, Duckworth decided to stay closed Friday night.
“I move with caution,” he said. “I know it’s money, we got bills to pay, but look, people are getting sick that might not share with you they got sick in your establishment. I don’t want to be a venue that’s going to be a super spreader.”
He said it’ll be a $20,000 loss Friday night, a hard decision worth more than watching the clock tick down.
“Everybody needs to take it seriously,” Duckworth said. “It’s not about the money. You’ll get the money. You need to do your part if you’re an owner and can make decisions — you can do the right thing.”
