Pete’s Bar takes Thanksgiving party off the table

People crowd the streets of Neptune Beach for the annual Pete's Bar Thanksgiving Day party

NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. – A holiday tradition at the beaches has been cancelled this year.

Pete’s Bar in Neptune Beach will not hold its annual Thanksgiving party in 2020. The decision is a first in 35 years.

Thousands of people come to Pete’s every year on Thanksgiving Day. Nearby streets from Atlantic Boulevard to Orange Street are blocked off for the large crowds of people.

Tom Whittingslow, the owner of Pete’s Bar, said it was the right thing to do to keep people safe from COVID-19.

“Due to the pandemic and health concerns for our customers and staff, we’ve decided that it probably wouldn’t been in anybody’s best interest to have the celebration this year," he said. “People estimate that there’s as many as five thousand people out here, and we wouldn’t be able to do the social distancing that’s required.”

RELATED: Florida adds over 6,000 COVID-19 cases for 1st time since mid-August

Whittingslow wrote a letter thanking customers:

Pete's Bar Neptune Beach

“We appreciate the support and we’re going to miss it this year," he said. "It’s obviously been a very strange year. We’ve been closed for six months and reopened for a couple of weeks and reclosed.”

Whittingslow hopes the event will be back next year. He said Pete’s Bar won’t be open on Thanksgiving during the daytime hours, but that the bar will be open at 6 p.m.

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About the Authors:

Corley Peel is a Texas native and Texas Tech graduate who covered big stories in Joplin, Missouri, Tulsa, Oklahoma and Jacksonville, Florida before returning to the Lone Star State. When not reporting, Corley enjoys hot yoga, Tech Football, and finding the best tacos in town.