Meet Whitney Bradford, Harrison Garcia of Western Sky Bar & Taproom

Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitney Bradford, Harrison Garcia

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
We met while attending the music business program at CU Denver and started dating shortly after both of us graduated. Whitney was booking acoustic musical acts at the Lila B Lounge at Comedy Works South and booked Harrison to play there. Harrison is a musician who has played in many different kinds of bands and later started doing stand up comedy, and Whitney is a singer who has previously managed bands and occasionally sings with Denver Choir League.

Harrison was producing multiple comedy shows, mostly at breweries around town, and was supposed to take over producing comedy shows at Barnhouse Tap in March 2020. Barnhouse Tap is the name of the previous bar that was in our space. While the planned shows in March were shut down along with most other events, he started producing monthly outdoor shows in late summer of 2020 after things started to re-open during the pandemic.

In the summer of 2021, the owner of Barnhouse informed Harrison that their plan was to sell the bar and close by the end of the summer. They received a few offers over the course of the summer, but for a variety of reasons, they did not accept the offers that were made to buy the bar. Around early to mid-September, the owner of Barnhouse Tap called Harrison and offered to sell the bar to him for a much lower price. The primary reason was that he felt Harrison would do well with the space, bringing in comedy and music, while also keeping it a reliable, friendly neighborhood space.

We discussed the opportunity and knew that it would be something we chose to do together. We talked about it with family and friends who are also business owners and ultimately decided we were not likely to have another opportunity like it and decided to go for it. We signed our lease October 1 and opened the doors November 3, 2021.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Owning a bar has been anything but smooth. Three weeks after opening, new mask mandates were implemented that killed what little momentum we had as a brand new, service-oriented business. Three years later, it continues to be a generally very interesting time to be in the bar industry. People’s habits in the Denver area have changed quite a bit since COVID, with little indication of a swing back in the other direction. People generally aren’t going out like they used to, and specifically younger generations are just not drinking. We’ve really had to seek out a customer base through our events and a whole lot of hustle. Unfortunately, if you build it, they don’t necessarily come these days. We continue to try to be creative and come up with new ideas for events to host and ways to foster community in our area.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The biggest thing we are probably known for is always having something going on. Whether it’s trivia every Wednesday, karaoke every Friday, live music Saturday, or comedy shows most Thursdays; it’s likely you’ll find something on our calendar. We also have 40 taps and an always-rotating selection of craft beer, cider, hard seltzer, and more. We also recently added three cocktails on draught to our tap wall.

The thing we are most proud of is the community that has formed around the bar, and that we are able to provide a safe and comfortable environment for everyone who comes in our doors. Unfortunately, we know that there are bars in the area where women and LGBTQ+ people do not feel safe, especially not alone. We take the environment in our space very seriously.

In everything we do, we hope to foster community and connection. The Western Sky Book Coven was started in January of this year, which has led to friendships forming around a love of books. Our open mic has created a space where both comedians and musicians can meet & collaborate. We are bringing a vendor market series back in the fall, along with some other community events currently in the works.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Opening the bar turned out to be more of a risk than we thought it would be. We couldn’t have predicted the rising inflation, and we were fairly certain that people would be excited to go out to bars, breweries, restaurants, etc in the years since COVID. That, as many businesses are likely to tell you, has just not been the case on a consistent basis.

Despite the challenges, we certainly don’t regret any of it. We’ve met a lot of incredible people, we have been able to showcase local talent, and we’ve done a lot of other really fun things. Taking a risk is often worth it even though it’s an incredible amount of work and stress. It’s likely you’ll have to sacrifice a lot of time and things you previously enjoyed doing. Hopefully, you’ll find enjoyment in new things.

Gather information and prepare for the things you can, but know you will not be able to prepare for everything that gets hurled at you. You kind of just have to roll with it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.westernskybar.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westernskybarco
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westernskybarandtaproom