The only thing I can compare it to is New Year's Eve.
So this is a bit of a tangent as you were specifically posting about the night before Thanksgiving.
But it brought up some happy memories, so here you are.
Our pub was just not big enough for all the people it held. And although the bar was long, the space behind the bar not wide enough for staff to easily pass. Some things were only at one end or the other (the ice machine for example, or wine)
But I loved it, even though I wouldn't have said it at the time!
Unlike town centre pubs, Ben didn't sell tickets. He just locked the front door and drew the curtains. Only people who actually knew the pub knew to come to the back (round the corner, through a narrow entrance and through the beer garden). We were a regular's pub but many people drank on their way into town, or came for lock-ins so knew the deal.
It meant people could come and go, rather than stay all night (although many did) and we also got the early birds who necked their drinks early and moved on. If you sell tickets, people have to commit to a whole night and often start slowly.
Canny chap our Benito.
He used to pay us our normal wages, but would offer extra money after 23.00 so that we would stay. The amount he offered went up as he got drunker and it got later. I worked until 02.00 on at least two occasions I remember. This in a time when the pub did not have a late licence, so three hours of illegal trading! and then went home with a customer
Although in both cases it was the same man and we dated in between.
We didn't have to serve food, but it was 3-4 deep at the bar in a tiny space and hot as your bloody hat. We regularly ran out of bar essentials like ice, lemon, glasses etc. We played our own tapes on the stereo, home-made compilations we'd been listening to for weeks and all the songs had special meaning. If there was a particular part of the song we liked to sing we wouldn't serve! Soddit, they can wait a few seconds. One of my special lines was in REM's
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight "A can of beans or blackeyed peas, some nescafe and ice, a candy bar, a falling star, or a reading of Doctor Seuss". I still have no idea what the song is really about.
And we were soundly and roundly kissed by everyone at midnight.