Preparing for the FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup in Russia starts tomorrow and local restaurants are preparing for an expected rush of customers.

Some of the world cup soccer matches begin as early as 6 am. The West Town Bar & Grill on Locke Street opens at 7 am.

Owner Brandon Stanicak recalls how the bar handled another big sporting event, “I know when Canada was in the gold medal game for hockey it was at 6 or 7 am and we had a packed house.”

Although patrons may feel like you want to get into the spirit for the early games, serving times are still the same.

City Councillor Jason Farr says there have been no requests from restaurants to serve alcohol any earlier than eleven in the morning. He says there is still time for requests to be made before finals and if there are, he’d support them.

“Bring it on! I mean it’s great when people get together particularly when it involves a world such as this the greatest world sporting event every 4 years.”

As in the past, lots of World Cup action is expected downtown particularly on James Street.

Pheasant Plucker will be handing out swag from local breweries in the area all month. During the semi-finals and finals, they’ll be transforming this parking lot into a viewing party area with TV’s and live entertainment as they’ve done in the past.

The General Manager, Danielle Hanschel says the following for soccer at her pub is huge.

“I mean we don’t have a big screen TV that are kind of in your face but we have the homey pub feel, where you can come yell at the TV and cheer for your team.”

Even the Big Bee on the corner of Caroline and King is ready.

“The spirit of the world cup is almost here so we’re setting up trying to sell flags, make everybody happy you know!”

World Cup host Russia will kick off the tournament tomorrow morning against Saudi Arabia starting at 11.