Bar owners are gearing up for a rush of pre-Thanksgiving revelers tonight, as friends and family arrive in town and workers celebrate a four-day weekend.

“From what it looked like last year, I guess you could call it a zoo scene,” the manager of restaurant Metro Marché, Ty Sully, said yesterday.

The manager of popular restaurant Marseille, Robert Guarino, described it as “one of the bigger nights of the year,” and said his staff was steeling itself for a busy time.

The holiday brings different crowds to different bars. According to Mr. Sully, Metro Marché’s Port Authority location draws in crowds looking for a last drink before they make the trip home for the holiday.

“People were very happy to indulge in a little imbibing before they had to deal with family,” he said of the previous year. “It’s a good mix; there’s a lot of tourists you get in as well, but with the Broadway strike there’s been a little less on that end. Primarily it’s New Yorkers and commuters.”

At Bailey’s Corner Pub on the Upper East Side, the owner, Lore Schlager, also suggested that holiday stress boosted business in her bar.

“Not everyone likes to go home,” Ms. Schlager said yesterday. “So they go out beforehand.”

At the Back Page on Third Avenue, the manager, Jack Foley, is expecting returning students to swarm the bar. “They like to hook up with their friends,” Mr. Foley said.