Billy Bob's enforces cover charge

For Eric Parikakis, Billy Bob’s Texas honky tonk and its cowboy boots, two-stepping and country music was a Thursday-night ritual.

It was a well-known fact among students that admission was free after midnight on Thursdays, Parikakis, a sophomore political science major, said. But now, patrons are charged $4 per person, he said.

“Freshman year, fall and spring, I went around 11 every week, and it was always free,” Parikakis said. “There was only one exception, and it was $2 that night.”

He noticed the price change at the beginning of this semester.

“The very first week of classes, that Thursday, there was a huge line outside the ticket office at 11. We had to pay $4. Me and my friends were pretty surprised,” Parikakis said.

But Billy Bob’s Head of Marketing Pam Minick, said its prices had not changed—they were simply being enforced.

“It’s always been $4, we just weren’t that strict in enforcing it,” Minick said. “We just had some managers who were more lenient in our policy.”

Last August or September, Billy Bob’s received a complaint from a customer who had to wait in line to enter the building, she said.

The management was perplexed as to why there was a line; there were only 200 people on the dance floor that night. The management then realized many people stalled until midnight in hopes of free admission, Minick said.

The bands were also unhappy that people entered late and did not pay to hear their music, Minick said. Billy Bob’s could not pay the band unless the customers paid, she said.
Students can get in free if they arrive between 8 and 9 p.m. on Thursdays with a college ID,

Minick said. Tuesday nights are also free with some form of identification from the DFW area.
There are about 700 customers on an average Thursday night, she said. However, for the past two weeks, there have been around 1,000.

This might be a sign that the 9 p.m. free admittance is working, Minick said, although the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo had brought in extra customers.

But for Parikakis, Billy Bob’s other free alternatives were not appealing. Tuesday nights are busy for most people, and 9 p.m. seemed too early, he said. Now, he and his friends only go to Billy Bob’s “maybe once a month,” whereas before, they went almost every week.

“The price definitely doesn’t help, because that makes a lot of other people not want to go. When you go to Billy Bob’s and it’s empty, it’s just not as fun,” Parikakis said.

Despite the recent price enforcement, Minick said Billy Bob’s was still committed to being a fun option for university students.

“I have two kids who graduated from TCU, and my former assistant was a TCU cheerleader,” Minick said. “We’re total purple Horned Frogs around here.”