Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Axe Throwing Society bar pairs weapons and beer in Pompano
The Axe Throwing Society, a new bar that pairs alcohol and sharp weapons, will be burying the hatchet in Pompano Beach.
The brainchild of Jeff Morford, the Axe Throwing Society will feature 14 ax-throwing “lanes,” which resemble fenced-in batting cages, where customers can hurl lightweight axes at wooden targets. Morford expects to open the bar in mid- to late-August, not long before another axthrowing bar, Chops and Hops, is slated to debut in Fort Lauderdale.
Morford is no lumberjack — by day, he’s an assistant principal at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland — but the sport hooked him nonetheless when he visited an ax-throwing bar last year in Austin, Texas.
“I thought it was the dumbest thing in the world at first, but we had so much
fun, and the place was just packed,” recalls Morford, of Coconut Creek. “I wanted to have the first ax-throwing league in South Florida.”
Morford says his axthrowing bar is accredited with the Canada-based World Axe Throwing League, a governing body that sets rules and regulates tournaments for urban ax-throwing. Morford hasn’t yet finalized pricing, but says customers must first sign waivers before play. Ax-throwing coaches will be stationed at each lane to teach firsttimers how to best stick the bull’s-eyes.
“[The coaches] will be with you the entire time,” Morford says. “No one will be wildly tossing around axes by themselves.”
The 5,400-square-foot bar will also serve wine, craft beer and pub-style fare. Its décor? Think high-end sports bar, with high-definition TVs, electronic scoreboards and “a nightclub-y atmosphere with monthly local bands,” Morford says.
This sports theme is a callback to Morford’s 30-year background in education, which includes stints as a basketball coach and an athletic director. Morford, who has worked at Stoneman Douglas for five years, says he was best friends with athletic director Chris Hixon, one of 17 victims killed in the Feb. 14 mass shooting.
Even the Axe Throwing Society’s staff will consist of Stoneman Douglas alumni and current teachers, he says.
“My first priority is my job with the school system, but [this bar] has been my release valve,” Morford says. “It was horrific what we went through, but having this bar will help me take some of this anger and sadness and channel it somewhere else.”
Ax-throwing bars are part of a growing national trend that began in Canada and migrated south to Brooklyn, Austin, Chicago and Tampa, where indoor ax ranges and recreational ax-throwing leagues do brisk business. The Axe Throwing Society will open in August at 1301 W. Copans Road, in Pompano Beach. Hours are 4-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays and noon-midnight Saturday and Sunday. Go to AxeThrowingSociety.com