Somerville bar hoping third time’s the charm

SOMERVILLE, Texas (KBTX) - Bars in Burleson County were able to reopen their doors this past weekend. In December, some of them had to shutdown after the county went over the 15 percent hospitalization threshold for COVID-19.

On Saturday, Fort Half Moon Saloon in Somerville was able to turn the lights back on.

“Oh, I’m glad to be back at work,” said Tammella Pittman, an employee.

Pittman has been working at the saloon for almost a year, but for a good chunk of it she hasn’t actually been able to work. The bar has had to shut down three times due to COVID-19 regulations.

“Difficult because you don’t know, we found out Dec. 20, just a few days before Christmas, you’re not prepared for that,” said Pittman.

“As soon as we found out that we could be open everybody jumped to the call,” said owner Buda Calobreves.

Calobreves has been spending the last month and a half working a second job in an effort to keep the bar running.

“I’m a Texan. I don’t know how to quit, so I will recover,” said Calobreves. “But, it’s not going to be easy. If i didn’t have the job where I am here now‚in Pecos, Texas, my business would be closed. You would have been looking at a ‘For Sale’ sign on my business.”

Calobreves is hoping that he’ll never have to put his business up for sale.

“Everything I’ve ever worked for in my life is tied up in that little bar,” said Calobreves. “I know you go out there and look and it’s like ‘gah everything you worked for is is tied up in this?’ You know sometimes dreams are small, and my dream started out small. That’s my 401k plan, that’s my ‘how i’m going to live the rest of my life’, and if they don’t let us stay open we’re not going to make it.”

Half Moon Saloon is planning to expand outside to be able to serve more customers.

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