Despite Eastern canceling classes, the snow day didn’t stop local bars and liquor stores from putting up weekend-like numbers on Tuesday.

Deteriorating weather conditions on Tuesday caused Eastern to cancel all classes after 12:30 p.m. before finally canceling all classes for Wednesday. Several inches of snow blanketed the campus, sending students out of lecture halls and into barstools.

“Definitely there was a lot of excitement,” said Chris Clayton of the Panther Paw Bar and Grill. “I probably had about 40 phone calls yesterday asking are we going to be open, are we going to do trivia – our normal thing.”

Clayton said the Panther Paw Bar and Grill, located at 1412 Fourth Street, said it felt like a weekend night.

“It was a good night, we had fun. It was a blast,” he said.

For Ike’s, located at 459 Lincoln Avenue, opening early was the perfect opportunity for when Eastern decided to call off classes at 12:30 Tuesday.

“It was just kind of good timing,” said owner Andrew Phipps. “We were opening up that day at 11 (a.m.) anyway, so it was just being available to them really. That was it.”

Phipps said his bar’s close proximity to campus was something that helped bring in business on the snow day.

“Obviously, we’re close enough on campus where people are still able to walk,” he said. “It was good.”

Clayton said that with some of the other bars being closed, it brought more people into the Paw.

“I know some of the other bars did close, at least some of the uptown bars did, I was told,” he said.

K.C. Victor, the manager at Gateway Liquors, located at 102 Lincoln Avenue, said the snow day brought in more business than usual.

“I’d say probably four times as busy than what we usually are,” he said. “We had to bring in backup.”

Victor said the store was seeing sales uncommon for the average Tuesday.

“We were along the lines of weekend sales,” he said. “It was definitely a lot busier.”

With snow days at Eastern being a rarity, it appeared students were in the mood to celebrate, he said.

“I know one of the big reasons (students came out) is that Eastern never cancels school,” Victor said. “I think it was more of a celebration than it was the usual social events.”

Clayton said he was hoping there wouldn’t be any trouble with all the students out.

“My fear was people might do something stupid and Eastern would regret canceling class,” he said. “They don’t usually cancel classes.”

To date, Eastern has canceled class because of weather only a few times: in January 1977, February 1982, February 2007 and most recently in February 2011.

“I just think people get excited more or less just about being able to have the day off, and I think that’s what really contributed to it, knowing they didn’t have to go to class or work or anything like that because of the snow,” Phipps said. “It made people want to get out and about.”

Victor said he’s unsure if Gateway will see similar numbers the rest of the week like he did on Tuesday.

“It’s hard to tell, really. It just depends on if people are ready to booze or not,” he said.

Eastern has not, as of press time, made an announcement regarding Thursday’s classes. Snow is not in the forecast, but temperatures are expected to drop into the single digits.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-2812 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.