Skip to main contentWhile bars in Portland discuss banding together to form a “Vaxx Coalition,” uniformly requesting that customers provide vaccination proof for admittance, Mississippi Studios and Revolution Hall are taking a different approach.
Kevin Cradock, co-owner of Mississippi Studios, Revolution Hall and Polaris Hall, says that this weekend—on Friday and Saturday, the two nights Mississippi Studios has shows—health care testing startup Curative Inc. will post up outside the North Mississippi Avenue venue, ready to perform “rapid” antigen tests for free on guests that can’t show proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
PCR tests, which take a little longer, will also be available.
Mississippi Studios and its attached Bar Bar require “proof of vaccination or negative COVID test within 48 hours” for entry, but Cradock says they wanted to make it possible for ticket holders without vaccination cards to still be able to enjoy the recently reopened venue.
“We’re not going to join a coalition,” Cradock says of the proposal that several local bars have put forth. “We’ve already made a decision to try this. But I support the coalition.”
In addition to this weekend’s testing, both Mississippi Studios and Revolution Hall will host a nearby Curative Inc. testing trailer near their venues from 4 to 10 pm Wednesday through Sunday for the foreseeable future, to accommodate ongoing admittance to their shows and bars. Testing will be free with valid identification.
This weekend, Casey Neill and the Norway Rats take the stage at Mississippi Studios on Friday, Aug. 6, and Gaythiest headlines Saturday, Aug. 7.
The perfect guest, Cradock says, “would schedule a test on Thursday to see a show on Saturday.” But the venues are offering walk-up testing at both locations, requesting that people leave 15 to 45 minutes to wait and receive a test, if they can’t provide proof of vaccination.
The vaccine sign-up on the Mississippi site is in the FAQ on its COVID-19 updates page. It’s filed under: “Where can I get a COVID-19 test?”