The staff of Chief's restaurant in downtown Greencastle began preparing a week early for the expected spike in business during the Monon Bell Classic this year.
Steve Geabes, the owner of Chief's, said the restaurant tries to get ahead on preparations that can be done in advance. Other planning includes ordering more beer and staffing one or two additional members for the Saturday of the game.
According to Geabes, the additional business brought in by the Monon Bell game can actually turn things around for a business that is experiencing a "crummy" month or year.
"I've worked with a number of different restaurants and bars in town," said Geabes, who has lived in Greencastle on and off for 50 years. "It can be the big enchilada."
While profits on Friday and during Saturday lunch do not markedly increase, a major difference occurs on Saturday night.
According to Geabes, his profits on the Saturday night of the Monon game increase 30 to 40 percent, probably 15 percent more than for other sporting events.
Gail Smith, the owner of Almost Home, said that she also notices an increase in business on the Saturday of the Monon Bell game for dinner. Almost Home's accompanying bar, the Swizzle Stick, also sees an increase.
While the increase is not as much as on weekends when DePauw hosts sports tournaments that bring in multiple teams, Smith said, Almost Home still puts effort into drawing crowds to the restaurant on the Saturday of the Monon Bell game.
For example, Smith has hired a band to play Saturday evening as a special event for the Monon Bell weekend.
"We're going to send out emails and let DePauw students know that this is available, and I'm also catering for … a tailgate party for somebody at DePauw," Smith said. "We're all involved in all the hoopla."
Chief's is also catering a tailgate for the game.
Unlike Geabes and Smith, Lynda Dunbar, owner of Treasures on the Square, experiences a decrease in business on the Saturday of the Monon game.
Dunbar, whose restaurant is only open for breakfast and lunch on Saturdays, attributes this decline in business to the increase in tailgating and increased activities on DePauw's campus during lunchtime on the day of the Monon.
While the business for breakfast remains fairly regular, the decrease in business during the lunch hour at Treasures on the Square is not consistent with business during other sporting weekends when the restaurant is normally pretty busy.
Dunbar said she originally tried heavily advertising her business in The DePauw in the week prior to the game but didn't see any improvement in business. Since then, Treasures on the Square hasn't made much of an effort to advertise.
"Normally, we kind of forget about it," Dunbar said of when the Monon Bell game occurs.
Often times, Dunbar said, she is unaware of events that occur on DePauw's campus until a larger crowd appears in town to attend the events.
"It would be great if there would be, you know, something more that we could do to pick up a little bit more of the Monon Bell business," Dunbar said.
Unlike Treasures on the Square, Chief's continues to advertise the restaurant, in particular around the time of the Monon Bell game.
"I've got two ads in the The DePauw for next week, whereas [normally] I might not run an add at all," Geabes said.
Last year, when the game was held at Wabash, Geabes ran a promotion to encourage costumers to eat at Chief's on Monon weekend since Geabes still experiences an increase, however slight, in business on years when the game is away.
"Crawfordsville's not a great restaurant town at present time," Geabes said.
The promotion Geabes ran last year offered a discount based on the point spread to DePauw students if the Tigers beat Wabash. In light of DePauw's loss, the discount did not apply.
This year, in fear of jinxing the game, Geabes is not running the same promotion.
While Smith has never been to a Monon Bell game — always preoccupied in the restaurant — Geabes and Dunbar have both been to games in the past, although not in recent years.
Despite the gap in years since Geabes has attended a game, he has noticed an overall decline in excitement surrounding the game since previous years.
"Maybe in general I don't see it as being quite the event that it used to be pre-1990," Geabes said. "You could count on all sorts of pranks from either school happening the week before. You could count on, my God, the campus was like, say like in the ‘80s the campus was just rolling in beer…You could count on a lot of fights…I'm just not sure that people are quite as into it as times past."
Although it's been a long time since any of the owners have been to a game, if ever, and the atmosphere surrounding the game has changed, they all agree that the Monon Bell game has a positive impact on the community.
"[The visitors are] spending money," Smith said. "And whenever there's extra people in town spending money it's always a good thing."
Geabes said he thinks the Monon game is a wonderful tradition that he hopes to see continue forever.
"We kind of look at it [like] if DePauw wins, Greencastle wins," Geabes said.