The City of Bremerton told the owners of downtown's three remaining streateries to take them down by Thursday, Oct. 15. Remedy Speakeasy and Local Boys Tap Room on Fourth Street ran two of them. Those curbside decks have hosted downtown evenings for years. No one has said yet whether any will come back. What happens next depends on a permit system that doesn't exist yet. The city has said it wants to build one over the winter, and the Downtown Bremerton Association has offered $30,000 to help.
The streateries are the most visible example of a broader pattern. Much of what's new in downtown Bremerton this fall runs on space that's shared or borrowed: a curb lane, a shared kitchen, a public square. The streatery fight is about whether that borrowing gets formal rules.
A COVID Fix That Lasted Four Years
The Downtown Bremerton Association describes the streateries the way a regular would. In its Oct. 14 post, the association says they "started as a quick fix during COVID-19" and have since become "a real part of downtown's character, and a real source of revenue and seating for our local restaurants, especially in the busy season." The same post puts them on both 4th Street and 1st Street and says the city asked for the three current ones to be removed by Oct. 15.
Alison Crow owns Remedy, and she set out the businesses' side in a Kitsap Sun opinion column on Oct. 13. She wrote that for nearly four years the city had told her business and Local Boys their outdoor spaces could stay while it developed a permanent program. "We believed them," she wrote. "We invested in our businesses and trusted the City to follow through."
The money involved helps explain why this matters to the businesses. Crow told KING 5 that the streatery brings in about 8% of Remedy's revenue each year. For a bar on a downtown block, that's a share of the business that disappears when the deck does.
The City's Case Is About the Rules
Mayor Greg Wheeler's position, as KING 5 reported it, is about who gets to use public pavement and on what terms. He said bars like Remedy have had free, unregulated use of public property for years. He timed the order for the start of winter, when fewer people sit outside, so city hall would have time to build a standard permit system that covers outdoor-seating safety, among other things. KING 5 asked why the existing structures couldn't stay until that system was ready. Wheeler said they were "way out of compliance with what we envision for a future streetery program."
He also described the order as part of something bigger. "It's not just streeteries. We're going to be evaluating the future of outdoor dining in our city," Wheeler told KING 5.
City leaders have also admitted the program is late. KING 5 reported that city leaders apologized at the Oct. 7 council meeting for the lack of progress, and Councilmember Denise Frey said the issue had "fell off the radar."
The businesses responded in different ways. By the time KING 5 ran its story, Local Boys Tap Room had already taken its structure down, even after collecting hundreds of signatures against the order. Remedy's was still in use when KING 5 visited on a Tuesday before the deadline.
The Association's Compromise
The Downtown Bremerton Association didn't take either side. Its post says plainly that "the City is right that streateries need a consistent standard," because most were built quickly and one at a time, with different materials, footprints, drainage and accessibility. The association also notes that the city and the businesses disagree about whether the current permits are still in effect, and it declined to weigh in on that dispute.
Instead, it sent the city a partnership proposal with three parts:
- A bridge. Extend the Oct. 15 deadline in writing and give interim permits through April 30, 2027 to any streatery that passes a safety check, while its owner files a full permit application.
- A permanent program. Move ahead with the streatery and sidewalk café ordinance the City Council received on Sept. 22, or with an administrative program that offers the same transition for existing streateries.
- Shared designs. Let the association pay for optional, pre-approved streatery designs the city can add to its design manual, so restaurants know exactly what to build.
The safety checks it proposes are specific. City staff and the association would inspect each streatery within 30 days, checking for a stable structure with no trip hazards, an accessible route from the sidewalk with no curb step, a clear sidewalk for passersby, reflective markers facing traffic, clear sight lines at crosswalks and hydrants, and current insurance naming the city. Under the proposal, the city keeps full authority, can close any streatery with a serious hazard on the spot, and allows no new streateries until a permanent program exists.
The association says its initial $30,000 would pay for standard designs and engineering, help with permit applications and safety upgrades, and a fund for items like accessible dining surfaces, barriers, railings and furniture. It also notes that downtown has been a designated Washington Main Street Community since Jan. 1, 2026.
The association points to other Washington cities as models. It says Walla Walla made its streateries permanent in June 2025 and gave existing operators time to meet the new standards, and that Wenatchee and Everett run established programs.
Where Things Stand This Week
The association asked to present its proposal at the Public Works Committee on Oct. 20 and the City Council on Oct. 21. The published agenda for the Oct. 21 council meeting listed no general business items, and the streatery ordinance wasn't on it. As of this writing, the city has announced no interim permits and no adopted program. The association has named May 1, 2027 as its target for opening the next outdoor dining season if its plan goes forward.
Until something changes, the busy part of downtown's year moves inside, and it follows the same pattern of shared space.
A Bagel Shop Inside a Slice Shop
Telloz Bagels, run by Kyle Martello and Sophie Holzer, operates inside Evergreen Squared, the downstairs slice shop at Evergreen Pizza Co., 1223 McKenzie Ave. The Kitsap Sun's Oct. 14 story by David Nelson describes the business as coming out of a collaborative kitchen and calls even the shop's name "a collab."
Evergreen Squared is new too. Evergreen Pizza Co. held its grand opening on Aug. 22 and calls it a casual grab-and-go spot for square slices, soft serve, cold beer and combo deals. Evergreen Pizza Co.'s published hours are 4 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday, and 4 to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Those hours are for the pizza restaurant, so check Telloz's own schedule before heading over for a morning bagel.
At 1223 McKenzie, then, a dinner pizza restaurant, a slice counter and a bagel business now share one address. The streateries did the same thing with a lane of Fourth Street, and the city now wants rules for it.
Quincy Square Takes Over the Calendar
Downtown's biggest fall gatherings are held on public space the city lends out, with Quincy Square at the center.
Trick-or-Treat Street, Saturday, Oct. 31. The Downtown Bremerton Association runs trick-or-treating at local businesses around Quincy Square and Pacific Street, with a live DJ. The event page lists two end times, 7:30 p.m. in its description and 8:30 p.m. in its header. The Kitsap Sun's Halloween roundup gives 5 to 7:30 p.m., so plan on the earlier time.
The Admiral Theatre, same night and after. The Admiral's calendar has The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Oct. 31 and a Taylor-themed show on Sunday, Nov. 1. November continues with Revisiting Creedence on Nov. 13, Warren Miller's Days Off on Nov. 19, and End of the Line on Nov. 20.
Winter Fest, Saturday, Nov. 28. The association's Winter Fest in Quincy Square includes a tree lighting, a holiday market, Santa's Workshop, live entertainment and a 21+ beer-and-cider garden. Its two listings disagree on the times. The event detail page says 3 to 7 p.m., with Santa arriving at 5 and the tree lighting at 5:30. The Winter Fest overview says 5 to 8 p.m. If you're planning around the tree lighting, confirm with the association the week before.
These events also make the streatery question harder to ignore. Downtown already hands public space to businesses and crowds several times a year. The open question is how Bremerton handles that use when the space is a curb lane outside a bar for a whole season. The association's own suggestion for anyone who wants outdoor dining to return is simple: eat outside downtown while you can, and tell the restaurants you value it.
At the Ahern Real Estate Team, we follow how downtown Bremerton's blocks change, from Fourth Street decks to new shops on McKenzie, because those changes shape what it's like to live nearby. If you'd like to talk through what's happening downtown and what it could mean for your plans, Book an Appointment and we'll fill you in.
