October 14, 2011

By Daniel Shapiro

Columbia restaurants and bars have decided to spice up their traditional weekend plans for the centennial MU Homecoming celebration.

Locations such as Shakespeare’s Pizza, Tropical Liqeurs and Harpo’s are opening their doors early Saturday. Shakespeare’s will open a little earlier than normal and Trops will open at 9 a.m. as opposed to 12 p.m. Harpo’s will open at 6 a.m., the earliest they are allowed to open.

Shakespeare’s marketing manager Kurt Mirtsching said Shakespeare’s kitchen will stay open later to accommodate the larger-than-normal crowds.

“We’re not doing anything special, just what we always do, but a lot more of it,” Mirtsching said. “Homecoming has been our biggest day ever the past couple of years.”

Campus Bar and Grill will sell their menu items at regular prices instead of their traditional discounts because of the anticipated business that comes with Homecoming weekend.

Bambino’s Italian Café plans to have drink specials during and after the game, during which no drink will be more than $2.

Harpo’s general manager Jared Ater said the restaurant is hosting multiple parties for Homecoming weekend.

“We have partnered up with the MU Alumni Association and we are hosting two separate university parties on Friday,” Ater said. “One is for Greek Life and then we are hosting the Mizzou Homecoming Steering Committee Reunion.”

Ater also said Harpo’s has been streaming Talent productions all week.

Harpo’s will have more staff on hand and will set up auxillary bars, work on selling their retail and feature their new smoked wings, Ater said.

“We treat these weekends differently,” Ater said.