Shark Tank Pub celebrating 25th anniversary week at Loyalist College

Monday held the first events to kick off the Shark Tank pub’s birthday week. There was a cake to celebrate its 25th birthday. Photo By Kyle Ellington, QNet News

By Brock Butler

BELLEVILLE – The Shark Tank Pub is celebrating 25 years of operation at Loyalist College, with a full week of events leading up to a special pub night Friday.

Before the Shark Tank came to be what it is today, the college’s pub was located in the dining hall and hosted the same kinds of events that the Shark Tank does today. Fred Pollitt, the executive director of student life and leadership at Loyalist, told QNet News: “There were mostly big concerts.”

Pollitt said the student government put forward  a proposal to build a student activity centre in 1989. “I came on in August of 1994 as manager of the student activity centre while it was still under construction and to pull the pieces together, get us licensed under the Liquor Licence Act, to get us up and running. So this became the focal point for the campus.”

The Shark Tank officially opened later in 1994.

According to Pollitt, one reason for the new pub was that “the student government wanted their own venue to host their own events rather than students (going) off campus.”

The Shark Tank’s name came about as a result of a competition the student government held for full-time students to name the pub, with the prize being two tickets to a Rolling Stones concert. Over 600 submissions came in, and Shark Tank was chosen.

Where did it come from? “A student made a note that they were sitting in the pub one day and they were surrounded by all of the pool tables. There were lots of students playing at the time, and one student said to the other, ‘Man, there are a lot of sharks in this room,’ and the other goes, ‘Yeah, it’s a shark tank.’ And that’s how the name came around,” Pollitt explained.

Since then, the Shark Tank has become one of the biggest attractions on campus for students, hosting events involving live music, the ugly Christmas sweater pub, the St. Patrick’s pub and many more events.

Alicia Douglas, the president of Loyalist’s student government, says she wants to see live music back at the Shark Tank. Photo By Brock Butler, QNet News

Alicia Douglas, the president of Loyalist’s student government, said it’s exciting to have “such a wonderful student centre that’s been around for so long.

“This is kind of our trademark area,” she added.

“When you think about the Shark Tank pub, you also think about the student government, and for us, that’s crucial.”

The student government is trying to touch a lot of “different aspects within the college and bring it to the pub for the birthday to have students there to celebrate the 25th year,” Douglas said.

“Being a student myself, I’m just appreciative of having a space I could go to not just to have fun and (dance) on pub night,” she said. “It’s a nice atmosphere. There’s always music going. You can come and study, hang out with friends and engage in a game of pool. It’s nice little getaway.”

Douglas said having live music is a big a thing and she wants to push the student government to bring it back to the Shark Tank.

Adam Kozelenko, a Loyalist graduate, said pub nights were where he could “unwind, meet new people and just enjoy myself for an evening.”

He reminisced about a country night pub when, while waiting in line to get in, “Me and my roommate sang Wagon Wheel and my other roommate went around with a hat for the performance. We made enough to buy a round for the three of us.”

The events for the Shark Tank Pub Birthday Week go from Monday to Friday.

On Monday a cultural celebration was held from noon until 2 p.m. On Tuesday there was a Movember photo booth from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. On Wednesday there was a games day from noon to 2 p.m. On Thursday there will be a do-it-yourself Mason-jar aquarium event from noon to 2 p.m. And on Friday there will be a free pool and music period from noon to 3 p.m., followed by the birthday bash pub night at 9 p.m to end week.