Red River Street bar closes temporarily amid spread of omicron variant
AUSTIN (KXAN) — One downtown Austin club and venue is making the decision to close for more than a week amid the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19.
Cheer Up Charlies off Red River Street made the announcement on its Instagram Thursday, saying it would close through Sunday, Dec. 26 "to protect our communities."
The omicron variant was first detected in Travis County earlier this week. The variant was found in three people at the University of Texas at Austin.
As for shows scheduled this weekend, Cheer Up Charlies said it will be paying artists and performers as originally intended and will rebook them when there's space on its calendar.
"We are so grateful to everyone for their support this year — it's been a magnificent year of unparalleled leaps and bounds for our bar, and our team has made huge strides in the direction of never failing to hold it down when things get hard," the bar said on social media.
The venue is hosting a New Year's Eve event Dec. 31 starting at 7 p.m. You can buy tickets for $10 online.