The owner of Red Deer’s newest nightclub says his business has gotten off to a hot start.
The Silver Buckle, a country-themed club located at the Quality Inn and Conference Centre in North Red Deer, has now been open for about a month and a half.
“We were originally going to have a soft opening in late April, but we ended up reaching capacity on opening night,” owner Mark Linton told The Advocate on Thursday.
“We actually ran more than 1,200 people through the door that night, so it kind of turned into a hard opening.”
The number of people coming to the club each night has gone down a bit since the opening weekend, but “not a whole lot,” Linton added.
“That’s because we’re in the summer months – college kids have gone home and farmers are working in the fields,” he said.
“Overall, it’s been busy. We’ve definitely had a lot of people coming here and they’re coming from all over the place too.”
The Silver Buckle’s name is an homage to a former country bar that operated out of the former North Hill Inn years ago. That space later become the Electric Cowboy and Wild Bill’s Sports Bar, but didn’t re-open after the pandemic.
“A lot of people knew The Buckle from back in the day, so it’s a bit of nostalgia for them, even though we aren’t the same owners as that spot,” said Linton.
The new nightclub opened a few months after Red Deer’s two biggest nightclubs, Longriders Saloon and Bellinis Sonic Lounge, closed in January.
“This facility … gives people a place to gather. That’s part of the reason I did this – another reason is to give the staff from Longriders their jobs back basically,” said Linton.
“Having a place like this also prevents people from drinking and driving. Instead of having 100 parties around the city, where drinking is unregulated, young people can jump in a vehicle and drive away. Here, they’re all in one place, we have cabs … and part of our security staff’s job is to make sure people don’t just hop in a vehicle while drunk and drive away.”
The venue will host a live band later this month, as Jeremy Dallas will perform a show on June 23 at 9 p.m.
For more information on the country nightclub, visit www.silverbuckle.ca.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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