In the aftermath of the riot in the early morning hours of July 16, much scrutiny has been placed on the drinking habits of students during the weekend of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

For those 21 and over, much of that drinking takes place at area bars.

But to prevent patrons from getting out of control, downtown bars implement greater restrictions on Arts Festival weekend.

Eric Miller, manager of the Lion's Den, 118 S. Garner St., said that Lion's Den takes measures to keep visitors from becoming too intoxicated.

"There's not a lot of differences from a regular weekend but we do some things differently for Arts Fest," Miller said.

Lion's Den increases the number of doormen for the weekend.

On an average weekend there are three or four doormen, but on Arts Festival weekend, that number increases to seven or eight.

Sharkies Bar, 110 Sowers St., also increases its staff on Arts Festival weekend, said Steve Chun, assistant manager.

"We overstaff on busy weekends like football and Arts Fest weekends," Chun said.

Chun added that staff members try to keep out anyone who appears intoxicated.

"We try to curb the problem," Chun said. "Instead of letting people come in and get more drunk we try to stop them from coming in."

Miller said that Lion's Den participates in the same practice.

"We're a lot harder on Arts Fest weekend," Miller said. "If there's even the slightest sign of intoxication we won't let them in."

Miller said that the major problem on Arts Festival weekend is that people drink throughout the day before hitting the bars.

"If we can tell they've been drinking all day, they can't come in," Miller said. "That's the problem with these weekends when people have been drinking all day."

Lion's Den stops serving shots at 1 a.m. on Arts Festival weekend, and anyone in the bar who appears drunk will be asked to leave, Miller said.

Chun said that Sharkies staff members will also ask people to leave. "We never allow anyone who's visibly intoxicated in and when they get drunk, we ask them to leave," Chun said.

Still, some patrons feel this is not always the best course of action.

"If anything, I think they should be more lenient," said Joey Lenze, a non-degree student at Penn State.

"If they say to someone 'Get the hell out of here,' then they're going to be more likely to go out and start a fight."

Joce Sterman, a resident of State College, disagreed.

"I think that, in order to keep themselves out of trouble and from having liability, bars have to be stricter on those weekends," Sterman said.

Sterman added that she saw stricter measures first hand during Arts Festival weekend.

"They were definitely much more quick to throw people out," Sterman said.

"Even if someone stumbled or was holding themselves up against a wall they were out," Sterman added.

Because of these measures, Miller said that downtown bars do not bear responsibility for incidents like the near riot.

"No, we are not at all responsible," Miller said.

Collegian staff writer Leslie Craze contributed to this story.