Here’s when Wine Country event venues plan to reopen under California’s loosened pandemic rules

Lights could go on and visitors return in weeks to North Bay concert, play and other venues, but response to lifting of state restrictions is spotty and many locations will require masks and vaccination cards.

Depending on the tier color they are in, counties can expand indoor activities starting April 15. Then on June 15, the state is expected to demolish that tiered system and fully open up. For this to happen, the vaccine supply must remain adequate for anyone 16 and older who wants it, and hospitalizations must be stable and low.

That is leaving some North Bay venues eager to resume a more normal business model.

Anticipating being open for performances, The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa is expanding cleaning protocols. In addition to that, managers and supervisors from every department at the center will be participating in a training to become COVID-19 compliance officers.

“We think we will be back to two shifts, seven days a week literally by June 16 if things continue to move forward as they are,” said Rick Nowlin, CEO and president of Luther Burbank. “It’s ambitious because we have to staff back up. We are starting to look for additional employees, especially on events and maintenance teams.”

The iconic Uptown Theatre in downtown Napa is taking a slower approach to reopening.

“We are sticking with our original plan (of opening in the fall). We are only going to open when we can do so at full capacity,” General Manager Erica Simpson said. “It makes no sense economically except to open at 100% capacity. The margins are just too small.

“We also need time to prep and get ready and get everything into place.”

BottleRock Napa Valley, which is usually each May, had already announced plans for the three-day music festival to be in September after going dark in 2020.

“BottleRock Napa Valley remains scheduled for Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 3-5, 2021. Additional details, including the full 2021 lineup, will be announced soon,” Tom Fuller with BottleRock said.

He would not answer other questions like whether it’s difficult to get performers to commit on what is relatively short notice in the music world.

Most in the performing arts world are itching to get back to work just like so many in the public are eager to turn off their devices in order to see and listen to live performances.

“The arts sector has been one of the hardest hit financially during the pandemic. Our venues were shuttered, and our artists, technicians and administrators suffered huge losses. Many nonprofit arts organizations have been forced to close their doors,” Gabriella Calicchio, director of Cultural Services for Marin County said. “The arts are an integral part of what makes our communities strong. The arts lift us up and bring us together in a way that no other medium can.”

Government actions

Even as the reopening occurs, businesses in the state still must comply with state and county regulations. And if the state is hit with a fourth wave of the deadly virus, restrictions could get tighter.

While the tier system is expected to go away June 15, until then every county is still supposed to abide by the yellow, orange, red, and purple system. The coded system dictates rules for indoor and outdoor activities.

Counties in the purple tier — which no North Bay county is in — does not allow for indoor events or gatherings. The red tier, which Solano County is in, allows venues with a capacity of 1,500 people to open at 10% occupancy. Orange tier allows for 15% occupancy, and yellow tier 25%.

The state is following the federal government’s lead in not requiring a vaccination passport. Instead, California is leaving it up to businesses to come up with vaccination enforcement regulations.

In the April 15 changes, the state is set to lay out when a venue must have guests prove they’ve been vaccinated. For instance, an indoor venue in the orange tier that seats up to 1,500 people could increase its capacity to 35% percent if all guests have proof of a COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination.

A regional venue that is doing so is Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. A negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination is required to watch a game in person. People are given a vaccine card after getting the shot.

The federal government is helping to spur opening with a grant program called Shuttered Venue Operators. The U.S. Small Business Administration on April 8 began accepting applications from people who operate venues with live performances, as well as museums and movie theaters. Also eligible for the $16.2 billion grant program are the live venue promoters, theatrical producers and talent representatives.

Grant money may be used for payroll, utilities, mortgage/leases, insurance, advertising, and other ordinary business expenses.

“I’m right in the middle of applying for the government grant,” Ken Tesler, managing director of the Blue Note in Napa, said when reached April 8. “These grants are for shuttered venues of which we are one. Hopefully, we will see some money from that.”

North Bay venues schedule reopenings

Even before the announcements this month from the state, Tesler was planning to stage outdoor events at Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena starting May 21. He is going forward with reopening Blue Note in the fall.

He also operates the Oxbo RiverStage in Napa. Tesler expects to decide in a couple weeks about reopening that outdoor music venue.

“After June 15 it will be easier to put shows on. We will be COVID-19 responsible no matter what,” Tesler said.

While the Sonoma Raceway has been able to have events without spectators, the June 14, 2020, NASCAR race was moved to a venue across the country. It was announced April 8 that the NASCAR Cup Series will return to Sonoma on June 6 with fans being allowed to watch it live. The first event with spectators will be the day before with the ARCA Menards Series West General Tire 200 50-lap race.

“As of June 15, things could change pretty dramatically at the raceway if social distancing requirements went away and we could sell every seat in the house,” Jennifer Imbimbo, spokeswoman for the raceway, said.

Today, the stands are allowed to be 33% full. Changes include all tickets being digital and all transactions cashless. Food must be ordered via an app and then delivered to a person’s seat or it can be picked up at a window in a contactless manner. Masks are required at all times except while eating. No more than 10 people can be seated together; and no more than three households per group.

Those kinds of restrictions don’t work as well for indoor venues, which is why Uptown Theatre doesn’t expect its first show to be until early September. Who will be on stage hasn’t been disclosed.

“I can safely say all of our big-time favorites will be back as soon as we can get them back,” Simpson, the venue’s general manager said. “We are working on (changes now). We are working on being contactless and cash-free. We will do whatever we need to do for artists. We will probably need some sort of vaccine protocol; I’m not sure what that will be.”

The venue has a capacity of a little more than 850 people. The last time anyone was at Uptown Theatre was for the sold-out Tower of Power shows March 6-7, 2020.

“We don’t know who is going to feel comfortable coming back. The core people are really excited to come back,” Simpson said.

At the Luther Burbank Center phone calls from people wanting to rent the space were picking up even before the state released it news earlier this month. The facility has nine meeting rooms, with the largest able to fit 2,000 people in 6,120 square feet. There is also a 1,600-seat theater.

“Some inquiries are for summer; most want to plan for a successful fall where before (this month’s news) fall events did not seem so certain,” Sari Feinstein, program’s manager at the facility, said. “If we are looking at non-main theater performances, it’s just shy of 10 inquiries in the past two weeks. Rentals including main theater performances, upward of 10, not quite 15.”

Left Edge Theatre, a resident company at the center, will be hosting a summer camp in the 72-seat Studio Theater space on June 15 — the first indoor event since the pandemic took hold in spring 2020.

The first public performance will be Aug. 6, with comedian Nate Bargatze taking the stage.

Carpool Cinema, which started last summer, resumed April 6. The adapted drive-in movie nights will go through May. After that time, it’s anticipated the parking lot will need to be used by patrons attending events indoors at the center.

The Marin Center in San Rafael has a number of indoor options: the Exhibit Hall offers 22,500 square feet on one level that can be partitioned for a variety of uses, with space for 105 booths; Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium seats 2,000; Showcase Theater occupies 315; and meeting rooms can accommodate 20 to 150 people.

“We anticipate the Veterans' Memorial Auditorium will be open for events by September. However, in order to accommodate the state’s guidance for social distancing, there will be restrictions on the number of patrons allowed in the venue at any given time,” Calicchio, with Marin County said.

Right now the Exhibit Hall and Showcase Theater are serving as a vaccination center. In August, the Exhibit Hall building will go dark for voluntary seismic renovations.

Pre-pandemic, the entire center hosted more than 300 events a year. What that number will be going forward remains to be seen.

“Based on the state’s guidelines for indoor venues, the number of patrons will be significantly reduced. In order to accommodate the reduction in audience, a producer may choose to have multiple shows where in the past they might have just had one. This may mean shorter productions and increased production costs,” Calicchio said. “I expect that the ramp up will be slow and measured, but once everyone feels it is safe to gather, they will do so. We hear our community’s want and need to gather again and to participate in the arts.”

Editor’s Note: A earlier version of this story incorrectly reported a fact about the size of a theater at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa. It is a 1,600 seat facility.