Young professionals and college students gather to down microbrews while listening to bluesy classic rock. In the backroom there are two eight-foot long sections of roof gutter filled with water. Spray bottles are positioned at one end of the track. A small tank of feeder fish waits on a bar nearby. After a turbulent hiatus, tonight is the reinstatement of Harmon Tap Room's goldfish racing.
Since August of last year Harmon's Tap Room had been showcasing goldfish racing as its Tuesday night draw -- with the goldfish being prompted into racing by bar patrons weilding straws for blowing or water bottles for squirting them. "We're looking to keep things fun and entertaining," says Harmon Brewing Company co-owner, Pat Nagle.
Soon word got out about goldfish racing at the Harmon Tap Room and the weekly event became quite popular. So popular that it started to create some negative attention. A letter writing and emailing campaign spurred by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) led to a suspension of the Tap Room's goldfish racing after April 5. A spokesperson for PETA, Robbyn Brooks, describes the event: "Goldfish Racing is not a sport it's animal abuse. The fish are scooped out of their tanks, and dunked into eight-foot long gutters before they are immediately propelled toward the finish line by water guns or squirt bottles or straws that people blow behind the animal. And we have even go report of some fish being impaled by cocktail straws or swallowed alive by drunken patrons."
Though these descriptions were not specific to the Tap Room, as it's not the only bar in the world to hold goldfish races, the idea that the event could cause graphic harm to goldfish raised eyebrows.
Almost instantly, with an onslaught of negative insinuations, the Tap Room shut down the games. Nagle says the initial negative response led the Tap Room to change course. "Finally we decided to stop them and switch it over to beer pong, which was not a very successful move at all," says Nagle. He also notes, "We are not in the business of pissing people off." Media sources got a hold of the story and the coverage exploded, with radio stations as far as Australia reporting on the Tap Room's dismissal of the goldfish races.
The publicity, however, brought support to the Tap Room. It also spurred a resounding response from patrons - who, according to Nagle, concluded in mass that the goldfish races ought to be brought back. Nagle decided to reinstate the games but with a few changes.
"We listened to a lot of the complaints about the squirt guns and the handling the fish, so we aren't going to let that happen," Nagle says. "We are going to change the rules a little bit." One of the major changes is that a Tap Room employee is to be the only person to handle the goldfish.
Of course, not everyone is happy with the Tap Room's decision. Upon hearing the races will be showcased once more at the Saint Helens neighborhood bar, Brooks comments, "Harmon Tap Room had an opportunity to do something good for animals. But instead have made the cruel decision to go back to abusing goldfish as a form of entertainment."
Mr. Nagle anticipates there will be a backlash to the new goldfish racing, but says "I think I've covered all my bases to what we are doing. And I invite anyone to come down to watch to see we are serious about rules to ensure that the fish are handled properly."
For now the Harmon Tap Room will remain as the home for Tacoma goldfish racing.
[Harmon Tap Room, Goldfish Races, Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m., 204 St. Helens Ave, Tacoma, WA 98402]