In December, Tivoli’s Black Swan Pub lost its liquor license after an undercover sting “resulted in documentation of 13 underage purchases,” according to The Kingston Freeman.
Writing in Chronogram, music critic Peter Aaron characterized this as “a dubious bust” which requires the popular pub to lay its hands on $30,000 “to regain its license and get right with the authorities.” Owner Mike Nickerson writes:
“[O]ur license to serve you was suspended by the State Liquor Authority for a number of reasons - underage drinkers got in (the ID’s we were shown seemed to disappear as soon as the cops showed up), an unlicensed bouncer (Licensed bouncers? In Tivoli? Well it’s the Law for the whole state, not just the big cities), and storing liquor and records “off premises” (on the second floor of the Swan, upstairs in a locked office, but considered “off premise” because there is no indoor staircase).
So now the Swan (which does have many fans besides Bard students running up a tab on a parent’s credit card) has launched an online fundraising campaign to try to get those funds together.
The money will go, per Nickerson, to paying a $15,000 fine plus “the purchase of an ID scanner at $2,000, moving the liquor to a new location on the first floor, and registering with the State Department as a Security Company.”
With 11 days left in the campaign, $13,390 has been raised. Donations of $20 or more earn the donor a number of perks. $50 gets the donor a limited edition t-shrit, some partyinvites and a draft beer once the Swan reopens; for $250, you can have a brass plaque with your name on it mounted on the bar for $250. (Less than $20 earns you a “warm fuzzy feeling.”)
