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Local bar in the midst of potential closing

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Quarters has multiple arcades of retro games, such as Pac-Man and Galaga, for customers to play. Crimson // Olivia McKelvey

Drinking and playing arcade games wouldn’t be the same anymore in downtown Melbourne.

Quarters Brewery, a local bar in downtown Melbourne, announced on their Facebook page on Oct. 15 that profits were not enough to pay their landlord to keep the business running.

On their post titled “A Letter from the Owners…”, the company stated that they have found themselves at a crossroads.

“The ‘for lease’ sign is up, but we’re not done fighting yet,” mentions the post.

Quarters Brewery was created by best friends Tyler Griffiths and Brock Turner as a hobby project from homebrewing and creating game cabinets for people to enjoy.

The brewery opened on June 29, 2018 in downtown Melbourne, and attracts many adults to play arcade games while playing the arcade games such as Pac-Man and Galaga.

Brock, an alumni of Florida Tech and co-owner of the brewery, explained the reasoning for the announcement.

“Quarters has been having some issues staying afloat due to staggering prices of downtown rent,” Brock said. “Even though downtown has high foot traffic, Quarters’ customer base is more geared towards craft beer fans, video game enthusiasts, and the like.”

The Facebook post came as a shock to many of their customers, with supportive comments from customers and hundreds of shares throughout the site.

The brewery is a popular hotspot for the local community, including Florida Tech students and alumni.

“I’m upset that it’s [potentially] closing down,” said Faisal Ahmed, a graduate in business administration. “Every time I’m with my friends, we play the hockey game that they have as well as Pac-Man. I thought they were doing pretty well.”

The news was passed around through word of mouth for those that didn’t see the post on Facebook, such as Ahmed.

“I also heard the news through my friend Kevin,” said Siomara Nieves, a graduate in computer science. “I liked the place and its atmosphere was very cool and amazing. When I just wanna hang out and not stress about anything, I would go to Quarters and play.”

Quarters is currently a brewery that exclusively sells beer and a couple of wines.

Even if the majority of downtown establishments are full liquor bars, Brock has stated that they refuse in becoming one.

“We have expanded our offerings to include both hand crafted hard seltzers and more recently the introduction of a food menu as of September,” said Brock. “We also have events six times a week, such as trivia and beer bingo.”

Many Florida Tech students spend time at Quarters playing games and having a beer to let off steam. Crimson // Emily Walker

The company also stated that they do not intend on closing down and will continue their regular business to their best of their abilities.

“We appreciate all the support that we’re getting from folks as we try to make this work,” said Brock. “We’re optimistic about what the future holds for Quarters and as things progress, we hope to have positive news to share.”

The company posted an update on their Facebook page on Nov. 5 mentioning their audience’s support in their journey of staying open.

“We are working day and night on a plan that will allow us to not just stabilize Quarters,” but to make it bigger and better than before,” the company stated.

New plans in their campaign of saving the company, #SaveQuarters, include distributing to local vendors, like The Broken Barrel Tavern.

Future updates and current events of Quarters Brewery can be found on their Facebook page, Quarters Brewery and Arcade.

Record participation in homecoming 5k

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People gather, waiting for the 5k to begin. Crimson // Joe Gundzik

Hundreds of runners gathered outside Meg O’Mally’s Irish pub in Downtown Melbourne on Oct. 24, setting a record for the number of participants in Florida Tech’s homecoming 5k.

“We’ve been doing this area, Downtown Melbourne, since 2012,” said Stephanie Bacon, the race director. “I am proud to say that we are going to have probably over 600 runners, which represents the largest race we’ve ever had.”

The route of the race ran through Downtown Melbourne with several turnarounds to minimize the blocked off area.

Bacon said the route has stayed the same through the years, with runners beginning at Waverly Place, moving down Melbourne Avenue, Bignonia Avenue, and them coming back to Waverly.

While a look at Florida Tech’s admission data shows that undergraduate admissions have steadily increased year by year, this does not necessarily mean that student participation has increased overall as the race remains open to the public.

Many non-students and faculty members also participated in the race. Ryan Schwieterman, a non-student participant, said he ran for his team, and that he expected to be exhausted afterward.

Team competitions, although informal, account for some of the increase in participation.

Yet, much of the 5k’s participation comes from members of Brevard County.

“I came here to win,” said Grant Poirier, a Florida Tech student and experienced runner. “I am going to win first 100 place.”

Poirier said he has been running since he could walk.

“Most of it was not of my own free will, but I learned to love it eventually,” Poirier said. “I’ve loved it and hated it for most of my life. Mostly hated it, but still loved it a little bit.”

Poirier went on to say that he ran for three years in middle school and one year in high school.

“After that one year in high school, I realized that running distance in high school was a terrible life decision,” Poirier said. “So I re-evaluated my life and played golf.”

While Poirier has an “unusual” liking for running, others were spotted crossing the finish line with smiles due to personal bests, or looks of fatigue, celebratory highfives with friends, teammates, professors and more.

If anything, Florida Tech’s homecoming 5k showcased all levels of runners, various types of participants, but all united for one fun event.

Vandalizers strike Downtown Melbourne during Hurricane Dorian

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While many Melbourne residents spent Labor Day weekend hunkering down for Hurricane Dorian, others had a different agenda.

On Wednesday, September 4, around 3:13 a.m, an unidentified individual broke the front windows to the Railroad Emporium in Downtown Melbourne, according to a Melbourne police report.

According to another Melbourne police report, there was an unrelated shooting on NASA Boulevard that same night.

These are just a few examples of crimes that tend to occur during storms.

Joshua Livasy, a senior in physics and a Melbourne native, said this issue needs to be solved.

“These storms have the potential to bring catastrophic damage to our communities as it is, but then you have people who use these disasters as a way to loot and vandalise local businesses,” Livasy said. “I think local law enforcement needs to find ways to keep a closer eye on the communities during these storms.”

Livasy also said he thinks keeping Downtown Melbourne safe and clean is very important not only to the city, but for the students of Florida Tech as well.

“Downtown Melbourne is not only a historical landmark here in Melbourne, it’s a place where many students here at Florida Tech go to enjoy themselves,” Livasy said. “But if the city of Melbourne doesn’t do a better job at keeping these communities safe, I think over time students won’t feel safe going there.”

However, other students, such as Jacob Mondoro, a sophomore in business management, think that regardless of what law enforcement tries, these kinds of crimes will continue to happen during hurricanes.

“Law enforcement can only do so much once the storm actually starts to affect us,” Mondoro said. “Once we start feeling the major effects of the storm, most of the local law enforcement does what we do and hunker down until it passes. It’s not until things calm down that responders start patrolling the communities again.”

Mondro also mentioned that the last thing business owners should have to worry about during a storm is whether or not their businesses are trying to be broken into.

“As a business owner, your concern in this time of crisis should be on whether or not the storm is going to cause damage, not if another person is going to damage your building,” Mondoro said.

With just a little over two months still left in the hurricane season, there’s still potential for more storms to come, and Livasy and Mondoro said they believe that local law enforcement needs to find better solutions for protecting these businesses and making the community a safer place to live.

Behind the Scenes of Security in Downtown Melbourne

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Downtown Melbourne — a favorite spot among many Florida Tech students — is generally seen as a safe place to go out on a Friday night by students like Zachary Shelton.

Some bars in downtown Melbourne don’t have much security, but that’s because they don’t seem to need any, according to both bar owners and the students who go to their bars.

One bar, Iron Oak Post, is located in downtown Melbourne and doesn’t prevent anyone from entering since the establishment is not 21 and up.

Anne Fears co-owns Iron Oak Post with her husband Mike.

Fears said their bar and several others don’t have security, and she doesn’t see security within the bar as an issue since they don’t have many incidents.

Shelton has only had one poor experience at a bar where a bouncer checked his ID and let him in, but asked him to leave immediately due to full capacity.

“I was very sad,” Shelton said.

However, having no security isn’t the case for all of the bars downtown.

“Some places have their own security,” Fears said. “It is dependent on the atmosphere of the place, it seems.”

Shelton, a senior at Florida Tech, lists Iron Oak Post as one of his top three favorite bars.

“It’s a nice bar,” Shelton said. “It’s quiet. Usually there are college students there. People from my class like to go there.”

Fears said downtown Melbourne requires extra security and police for publicized events in order to ensure that everyone stays safe.

On rare occasions, concert promoters may bring their own security for smaller events involving one bar rather than the entirety of downtown.

So far this year, there have been 46 incidents resulting in police offenses or arrests, according to Melbourne Police records.

These vary from aggravated assault to trespassing, with drunk driving, liquor law violations and assault occurring most frequently.

However, Fears doesn’t see an issue since these offenses are handled and don’t affect the establishments.

“At this point, security seems fairly good outside,” Fears said.

Yet, the bar owner would like to see improvements to security, such as an information system in place that links all of the nightlife establishments for the incidents that do occur.

The system could report real-time security concerns like excessively drunk groups, people walking out on bar tabs, fights, thieves and predator alerts—which are Fears’ main concerns.

“I think if the police and bars worked together, and a normal system was in place, it could benefit,” Fears said.

Shelton also thinks downtown is safe, but acknowledges that not everyone may feel that way.

“Personally, yes, but I don’t think women do,” Shelton said.

According to Shelton, downtown has evolved to include more police presence and public awareness.

“There are less creepy old people,” Shelton said. “I guess they just don’t hang around there as much.”

Shelton agrees that downtown could still improve, such as only allowing ride-shares and taxis down Main Street, ultimately making it safer by preventing drunk driving.

“Luckily, downtown is safe 99 percent of the time, but as the population grows we may see an increase in problems,” Fears said.

Of the incidents listed in police records, only one occurred this August.

Hence, while the police have seemingly handled the incidents swiftly, safety is always a priority.