After shuttering in the spring, longtime Ballard music venue and bar Conor Byrne Pub will re-emerge in a new form this summer: as a cooperative. A successful fundraising campaign allowed its leadership team to build the co-op from the ground up, and the pub plans to celebrate its reopening with KEXP-sponsored shows on August 2 and 3. The pub, the neighborhood’s oldest, closed at the end of March to the community’s dismay .
But a team of supporters and employees led by Adria Dukich, Dan Sodomka and Maria Rocco saw a future for Conor Byrne if it was re-organized with a more sustainable business model. Under the new co-op structure, members of the public pay a one-time membership fee in exchange for certain perks. The pub’s leadership team hopes the new business model will allow the community to take a more active role in the pub’s financial and cultural future.
Before the bar closed, the group launched a fundraising campaign to support the logistics involved in its reopening. By May, the group had surpassed its fundraising goal, with more than $50,000 in donations . That money was used for the co-op’s startup costs: purchasing a business license, supporting marketing efforts and paying for lawyers to help draft bylaws for the revived business.
Most of that $50,000 came within a 48-hour period, according to Leigh Bezezekoff, Conor Byrne’s marketing and ticketing manager. “I'm really impressed with the committee members and musicians and employees who have been work.