After canceling 100 shows, downtown Boise music venue closes permanently

Regal Beaver, a fledgling all-ages concert venue and restaurant in downtown Boise, has closed.

The music haven at 160 N. 8th St. was “a casualty of the pandemic,” owner Russ Crawforth said.

“I just realized the writing was on the wall for that concept, and it wasn’t very profitable to begin with,” he said.

Regal Beaver was supposed to be a fresh beginning for the space. It used to be Donut Daze, which closed last September after just over a year in business. Launched in late 2019 before an official rollout at the start of 2020, Regal Beaver quickly felt the negative economic impact of COVID-19, Crawforth said.

“We ended up canceling at least 100 shows that we had set up throughout the summer,” he said. “It just kept getting gnarlier and gnarlier.”

Crawforth invested nearly $15,000 in a sound system and had planned for Regal Beaver to be the primary all-ages music venue at Treefort Music Fest. Originally scheduled in March, Treefort is postponed until September — and will be a modified version if it does happen.

Regal Beaver had planned to present 50 shows during Treefort, Crawforth said: “10 a day for five days.”

Instead, after a strong start in January and February, the pandemic doomed the business below the Balcony Club on 8th Street.

“We had two good months of shows,” Crawforth said.

Regal Beaver isn’t the only Boise music venue impacted dramatically by the virus. The Knitting Factory remains shuttered temporarily, but Deathproof Coffee also closed permanently last month.

This story was originally published July 7, 2020 at 12:55 PM.