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PROVO — January 2020 marked the 14th anniversary of Velour Live Music Gallery, a beloved music venue in Provo.
At the time, owner Corey Fox joked that there was nothing special to do about 14 years; it's not a landmark accomplishment. So, he promised the celebration for 15 years would be huge.
Little did he know that in just two months the venue would have to close its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In January 2021, instead of celebrating the 15-year milestone, Fox sat alone in his office reflecting on the growing financial strain the venue is facing.
"How do you celebrate this 15-year anniversary without being able to do shows?" he wondered aloud.
Velour has been able to stay afloat thanks to COVID-19 relief grants and loans, along with private rentals and some donations from fans.
"That's been our only income from any kind of events, and then we've relied heavily on relief grants and loans from the government," Fox said.
It's a miracle they've been able to survive for an entire year with no concerts, the owner said, but he's not sure how much longer it can last.
"I'll be blunt and say there's not enough money in the account right now to pay next month's mortgage," he said.
Four years ago, Fox underwent a kidney transplant surgery and the community rallied to support him and the venue. Now, he and others are hoping the community will support him and the venue once more and help get them through tough times.
Surviving a pandemic
Velour is an all-ages, no-alcohol venue and has supported growing local bands over the years, including Imagine Dragons, Neon Trees and The Aces.
"We have an amazing music community down here," Fox said.
For any concert venue to make it 15 years is an impressive feat, according to Kaneischa Johnson, who worked at the venue for about 10 years.
"It's really unusual, I think, for any music venue to sustain 15 years, let alone an all-ages venue that subsists only on door covers and doesn't collect money from alcohol sales," she said.
The pandemic has hit a lot of businesses hard, with attention turning to restaurants adjusting to COVID-19 restrictions. However, most restaurants have been able to remain at least partially open with drive-thru's or curbside pickup, an option not available to a concert venue.
"You can't really do that with a venue. So yeah, we've basically been completely shut down for a year," Fox said.
Because of Fox's health condition, it's also not worth any risk to prematurely open or try and hold concerts that could end up being super-spreader events.
"That's been another twist on it," Fox said. "I myself am immunocompromised. So, even during this when, you know, maybe some of the Salt Lake (venues) kind of dabbled in these smaller shows and things like that, we've been hesitant."
Getting help
Fox admits his business needs help, but he struggles with the idea that people want to donate money with nothing in return.
"Velour, itself, hasn't really gone public about any kind of donation help, but others have in the community," he said.
Over the course of the pandemic, a few GoFundMe's were set up on Velour's behalf, and others have inquired about making donations to the venue to keep it up and running.
"The only saving grace I think for a lot of spaces that have been able to sustain one way or the other is the community actually stepping in, you know, whether it's contributing funds or people or bandwidth," Johnson said.
Fox's venue is available to rent out for small private events, where it's easier to manage social distancing and separate groups — unlike a large crowded concert.
"All that stuff would be huge," he said. "I'd rather if someone's putting money into it that they're actually getting the space for something and then it helps them and it helps us."
However, those still looking to donate can do so by sending funds to the official Venmo, @VelourLive.* And the fact that people have offered to donate funds just to support the place they love humbles Fox.
"I get emotional about it, as well, like it's the only way I can kind of accept it is that the Velour is far bigger than myself," Fox said.
Looking to the future
Things won't be perfect once it becomes safe again to hold concerts either, though. At first, it's likely only small shows at half capacity would be allowed in which case it's possible the venue could risk losing money.
"We're gonna have to get a little creative here for the first year or so if we're going to get by," Fox said. "We won't be able to just rely on smaller shows."
Not to mention a lot of local bands are no longer in the area because of the pandemic.
"Some of them went home, instead of staying in college for now, or some of them decided like, 'Oh I'm going to move to another state temporarily,' because there's no shows.' There's no reason to keep the band going at the moment when they can't play," he explained. "We rely heavily on these bigger bands bringing crowds and I don't know if they're gonna exist."
Even though the threat of closing Velour's doors looms over him, Fox remains optimistic.
"I feel like right when it seems we're kind of to that breaking point one other little miracle happens that pushes us through another month, sometimes it pushes through another week," he said.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
