DENVER, Colorado — Gov. Jared Polis is expected on Friday to extend an executive order requiring bars and restaurants to stop serving alcohol, but modifying it to give businesses an extra hour. Sources have told Colorado Politics that "last call for alcohol," under the executive order on Friday, is likely to be 11 p.m., an hour later than the current executive order allows.
But that's unlikely to be late enough for bar and restaurant owners who had hoped to keep their alcohol sales flowing as sports playoffs continue late into the evening. Some Colorado Avalanche games, for example, don't start until 8:30 p.m., and with overtime could go to midnight.
Polis originally issued the executive order on "last call" on July 21, which required any establishment selling alcohol to stop doing so at 10 p.m. But two days later, the order was amended to allow liquor stores to continue selling until midnight.
>> The video above is from when that announcement was first made.
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Bar and restaurant owners cried foul, claiming they, too, should be able to keep serving alcohol after 10 p.m. The Tavern League of Colorado filed a lawsuit against Polis, first seeking a temporary restraining order. A Denver District Court judge denied the order, and the lawsuit will continue on to a trial.
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