Toronto brewery offering 'resocialization hour' to help ease people out of lockdowns

As businesses reopen and proof of vaccine mandates lift, a Toronto brewery is holding a so-called “ReSocialization Hour” to help ease people out of lockdowns and back into social environments.

Halo Brewery is holding ReSocialization Hour from Monday to Wednesday between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the tap room throughout the month of March, offering a communal table – dubbed the resocialization station -- that's set aside for anyone comfortable with meeting new people.

Halo Brewery Creative Director Sara Vinten told CTV's Your Morning the initiative is to help ease people back into in-person interacting following two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and stringent public health restrictions.

• Newsletter sign-up: Get The COVID-19 Brief sent to your inbox

"The thinking behind it was that [socializing] was something that came so naturally in places like ours, but it's become so much harder these days because of all those additional anxieties and complex social cues that we now need to navigate," Vinten explained in an interview on Thursday.

Vinten said the idea for the event came after having "a million conversations" with friends, families, customers, and team members on how to cope with COVID-19-related social challenges brought about by interacting virtually rather than in-person for such an extended period of time.

"It's really a shared anxiety around learning to be social again after what's been two years of actively avoiding each other," Vinten said. "It's really been this under acknowledged externality of the pandemic that has been our collective loss of humanity and sense of community."

As a bar, Vinten said Halo Brewery is "built around community and conversation" and wanted to do something to help bring back those social elements for customers who are comfortable and ready to meet new people.

The brewery is also offering $15 beer flights during ReSocialization Hour for those who might need some "liquid courage."

"If you're ready to get out there, pull up a seat at the resocialization station and start a conversation," Vinten said.