This Thursday is your chance to take advantage of multiple drink specials and raise a toast to both the Wild and the Packers in one fell swoop:
— A rare opportunity is at hand, to go to sports bars and see both the Wild and the Packers at the same time on different TVs. Adding to the uniqueness of the matter is that Green Bay’s opponent are the Chicago Bears. Think of it as Packin’ it in to see Bears ‘n the Wild. I will explain. On Thursday night, Sept. 20, the Wild play at 7 p.m. and the Packers at 7:25 p.m. (Hopefully the Wild will have scored a couple of times already by the time the Packer game starts, to help make up for the recent lag in offensive productivity). The scheduling is unusual because the hockey team out of the Cities hardly ever plays at the same time as the Packers, and even when they do play on the same day, there is a difference between mid-afternoon and evening starts. Add to the fact that when it comes to division rivals such as the Bears, it usually is a noon Sunday game. What this means for you, the patron, is that at some sports bars led the way by Dick’s Bar and Grill will have the rare chance to offer more than one group of team-specific drink specials at the same time.
— They can play and party, and again will do both at The Willow River Saloon. The five-some Hitfaced has parlayed the status its name suggests using decades of music, playing songs from 40 years, starting with the 1970s and including smash hits that draw from a specific range of time you don’t always see. You can be the judge on Friday evening, Sept. 21, in Burkhardt, as this band that has just started reigning on their stage in recent times takes you back through time with cross-over country, funk and dance, some harder rock and even disco, and of course current pop music. On lead vocals is someone with an interesting name, Nealee Perkins Mingo, followed by another lead vocalist who also plays guitar, Thomas Boden, and additionally on vocals and guitar, Tim Smude, on bass guitar and also vocals, Scott Kee, and on drums and percussion, Salvador Rosas.
— Tis the season, and Halloween themed drink specials are popping up in the area. In various night spots, such as the Village Inn in North Hudson, can be seen the ad for a Halloween-ish apple product that’s also Biblical-ish, the Serpent’s Bite apple cider flavored whiskey. At Woody’s in Bayport is another such apple product, that may have to do with the pads in your bowling shoes. A sign that warns of wearing regular shoes onto the bowling area is sponsored by the self-described devilish Paddy’s brew, and suggests that while most people are not devil-may-care and they comply with this rule, there can be a seasonally appropriate bad apple in every bunch.