Downtown Iowa City Restaurant Hosts ‘Blizzard Party’
By Clark Cahill, Reporter
People make their way on foot through the intersection of Clinton Street at Washington Street on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011, in Iowa City. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)
By
Aaron Hepker
Story Created:
Feb 2, 2011 at 3:56 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Feb 2, 2011 at 3:56 PM CDT
IOWA CITY, Iowa — For the few who ventured downtown Iowa City during the lunch hour Wednesday, they likely crossed paths with a giant chicken.
The chicken has become a recognizable figure in Iowa City in recent years, advertising and promoting for downtown restaurant Graze. The chicken doesn’t come out often in the winter, but Wednesday was a special occasion.
In response to University of Iowa canceling class and several other businesses closing their doors due to the winter storm on Wednesday, Graze owner Peter Harman decided to throw a “Blizzard Party” at his restaurant.
Harman utilized social media platforms such as Facebook and what he called an “e-mail blast” to get word of the event into the public.
“This morning we came in and dug ourselves into the building and threw a big blizzard party,” he said. “My waiters were kind of tentative coming in today.”
The restaurant is offering buy one, get one deals for its buffet and drinks the entire day, Harman said, adding they were much busier during the lunch hour than normal.
“I knew the school would be closed. We have a ton of snow,” he said. “We have a captive audience downtown and they can’t go anywhere. So why not right?”
UI senior Danelle Kinzenbaw said the deals were a good excuse to get out of the house during the school’s snow day.
“We were snowed in and got a little bit of cabin fever,” she said. “So we decided to come out and have fun.”
Jonathan and Ali Allender-Zivic traveled to Iowa City from Cedar Rapids for the Blizzard Party. Jonathan teaches at Coe College, which was also closed on Wednesday, and said he is a big fan of Graze. After receiving an e-mail about the deals, the snowy roads could not keep he and his wife from making the trip.
Ali said the couple made a game of counting the vehicles that had the misfortune of going off the road due to the storm.
“We counted the cars on the way down and there were 53 on the side of the road,” Jonathan said. “But the roads weren’t too bad actually.”
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