Then the COVID pandemic hit the area, and live music events in the venue were put on hold indefinitely. But with live music postponed for the foreseeable future, its main source of revenue was stripped away during the shutdown.
Rebreather, based in Youngstown and active since , considers Westside Bowl to be its home base as a band and is close with its owners, Nate and Jami Offerdahl.
After a Rebreather band practice, Rantilla headed to the venue and approached Nate Offerdahl with an offer to pay for the next 10 pizza orders that were placed. Offerdahl posted a video on Facebook announcing that the next 10 call-in orders for pizza would be paid for by the band. Another friend of ours, Mollie from Little Blackbird Photography , she bought pizzas the next night, and it sort of just avalanched after that.
It was almost competitive. Members come and go. The band has played many shows at Westside Bowl and made connections quickly at the venue. They had a restaurant, so they were able to sell food out of the front door. He and his bandmates have spent a lot of time at the venue over the years, playing shows, watching other bands and just hanging out. Seeing forced layoffs and canceled events inspired them to take action and try to put some money into the venue. The 3,square-foot building was always intended to primarily be a live-music venue.
By the end of that first week, they had pizzas prepaid. By the end of the month, they had approximately paid orders. Posting a video to social media after Rebreather picked up the bill for the first 10 orders helped the concept take off and keep the community informed about ways to support Westside Bowl.
