Downtown Northville opens The Twist, a social district that allows cocktails-to-go on city streets

The COVID-19 pandemic has made just about everyone’s lives more difficult and that’s certainly true for small business owners.

In Michigan, with capacity restrictions limiting bars and restaurants to 50 percent, it can be especially difficult to seat enough people to keep a business’s doors open. And that’s not even taking into account the would-be customers who just aren’t comfortable gathering in bars and restaurants because of the pandemic.

Downtown Northville has offered a solution for both the businesses and the customers, allowing the city streets to become an extension of the bars and restaurants themselves.

It’s called The Twist. The social district expands already-closed city streets to become an even bigger district where visitors can walk the city streets with "cocktails to-go" from participating businesses.

"Since the beginning of the summer, the community has been enjoying the new outdoor dining and shopping atmosphere and the addition of The Twist provides us another way to support the businesses and welcome residents and visitors back to town safely," says Lori Ward, director of the Northville Downtown Development Authority.

Street closures instituted earlier this summer allowed for bars and restaurants to expand their outdoor seating areas into parking lots and certain streets. The Twist creates a whole district where visitors can take their drinks to go and hang out downtown.

Participating businesses include 160 Main, Browndog Barlor, Center Street Grille, Lucy & The Wolf, Poole’s Tavern, Simply Wine, and Table 5.

"The DDA remains committed to supporting our businesses and the community," Ward says.

"We worked with the businesses to implement a Reopening Plan for Downtown Northville that provides an opportunity for all of the downtown businesses to reopen safely and with the maximum capacity allowed under the Governor’s Executive Orders."

The Twist is open from noon to 10 p.m., seven days a week. Its footprint includes E. Main from Center to Hutton and N. Center from Main to Dunlap in downtown Northville.

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