Whether you want to have a taste or two or maybe more, sample an entree or two, and a listen to a band or deejay or two, Hudson and the surrounding area has you covered. (Below is a primer for what’s happening locally on New Year’s Eve, and for a further rundown on other area events, see this web page’s Picks of the Week department).

— At venues all over the immediate area on New Year’s Eve, there will be samplings of the latest Hudson-based distilled spirit brand, known as Demon Rum.
The crew giving out a taste will spend a whirlwind five hours hitting at least seven different area bar and grill establishments, one of them more then once, to let you know why you should say the devil may care and occasionally indulge in this newest “sinfully smooth” local rum, (which also is expected to go national not long after the New Year’s celebration). Other variations will likely follow this initial version of premium spiced rum, a creation of local residents Wayne and Barb Karls, Jeff Warren and Tami Sherman that was several years in the development and is already available at most area liquor stores and taverns.
The sampling crew will start at about 8:30 p.m. at the Smilin’ Moose Lodge Bar and Grill, (which by the way will offer several deejays throughout the night), then move to Stone Tap. They might split into groups and hit other places downtown as well, such as Dick’s Bar and Grill, which also will offer multiple music acts, and spend a total of about an hour in that area of Hudson.
Then from around 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., the crew will head north to the Village Inn and Kozy Korner and then Guv’s Place. After North Hudson, they will hit Big Guys BBQ for about two hours until 12:30 or 1 a.m., then be back at the Smilin’ Moose until wrapping up around 1:30 a.m.
Other venues also can join in on the New Year’s Eve sampling fun. Call the Karls at (715) 531-1456.
— At Season’s Tavern in North Hudson, it’s come for the food and stay for the music, although both are good reasons to celebrate on Dec. 31. And into Jan. 1.
The sign outside says it on both sides: New Year’s Eve dinner for two. And live music.
This establishment, which has now been in existance for several years, offers dinner for two people for $70. Entree choices this New Year’s at Seasons are very similar to what they have been during, well, other such seasons, and the tried and true include choice of a filet with either lobster or their signature walleye (of course), with baked potato, and house vegetable and salad. For the appetizer, as the theme recurs, share two walleye cakes with bernaise or two teriyaki chicken skewers over citrus cole slaw. And then for dessert, share four-layer chocolate cake or New York-style cheesecake.
All this since after all, people will be going late and may need something extra hearty to sustain themselves and continue into the wee hours.
Then, starting about 9 p.m., is one of the longest running house bands in the area, and at Seasons we are of course talking about tunes from the likes of the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd by Thirsty Camel, which has been playing around the Twin Cities area for years.
In their most recent North Hudson performance, with the dance floor filled for a Halloween show, the largely barefooted band was heavy on playing The Stones, and the prominence of the rhythm section showed through, led by the thumping of the bassist who looked a lot like comic Mike Myers. (Thirsty Camel is only a trio — they have only so many humps — and although vocals may be shared and this is the perfect time for a holiday choir approach, they aren’t likely to have enough singers for the opera-style Bohemian Rhapsody). They did however, pull off an impressively well-done vocal arrangement to, you guessed it, the difficult Stones song Miss You, complete with the whooping in the chorus by all band members. Parts of the song, also, were made vocally their own, especially by the lead guitarist.
Call for reservations at (715) 386-8488.
— One of the longest established places in downtown Hudson to dance to hip-hop, rap and other urban music, along with some pop, country and rock on New Year’s Eve, is Ellie’s on Main sports bar. It will continue to spin the tunes as long into the morning as the audience participation warrants it, managers say. There will be ongoing prize giveaways throughout that time, and a champagne toast at midnight.

It’s that time of year, and like many things, snowflake prominence might depend on how well they are hung:

— Bartender Beth at the Village Inn in North Hudson was making snowflake decorations on kind of slow consecutive weeknights. She was incorporating the eager help of some of her patrons, one of whom said about his intricate creation, “You’ve got to admit, this is totally badass.” Considering the holiday that’s at hand, I don’t know if that last word is one I would choose, but hey … She then dangled her handiwork above a table by the front window and added, “I just wish the sparkly things were (facing) both sides.”
— The Smilin’ Moose has its own snowflake saga. While there are the standard paper creations outside, at some spots indoors are big snowflakes carved out of wood and dangling from the ceiling. That might be what you’d expect from a “lodge” bar and grill that’s heavy on wooden decor.
— A sign you might want to keep in mind while holiday shopping, and knowing this is a season of celebrating and possibly indulging a bit. Outside the Village Liquor store in North Hudson: “No one regifts the gifts from us.”
— Kudos for grill and bar establishments on The Hill, among others, for closing on Thanksgiving, for the benefit of employees. At one of those, Buffalo Wild Wings, a conversation with workers was held where they noted the company would probably have found it lucrative to be open, because of three high-profile pro football games that included Brett Favre’s number being retired by the Packers. However, the high road was taken, in part since a precedent for hours had already been set and consistency was valued.
— With temps dipping below freezing, some late-night shoppers in early December were dressed like it was still early fall when traversing the parking lot. One wore a tight, light-weight T-shirt, then walking the other direction was a woman sporting a lot of bare midrift and a short leather miniskirt. No bah humbug here!
— Speaking of that kind of attire, seen downtown were patrons with dress, hair and overall similar looks to singers Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Pitbull and yes, that guy from the “twenty dollars in my pocket” video. And, a while back at the Green Mill, a bartender said that at the seat I’d taken, just moments ago, was someone who looked just like the songstress Pink. On the other end of the spectrum, longtime Dibbo’s bartender Forrest, when he has a bellhop at a prominent Twin Cities hotel earlier in his career, recalls running into Mick Jagger on an elevator, and rather than strut his stuff, Jagger instructed the local man to turn his head because he had a cold — not something you’d want to catch if you have to take the stage and sing in the evening.
— Lastly, guest singer Jesse got on stage with the one-man band in an infrequent duet and sang a Stone Temple Pilots song in honor of the late Scott Weiland, who was found dead in the tour bus outside such a motel as in the Jagger sighting, this time in Bloomington.

Three patrons and a bartender met down in Phoenix … and several days later there were two more patrons in a redux.
Turns out this is no joke, and a couple of them found they also are originally from the Manitowoc area, but had to get down to Arizona, or at least talk at length about it, in order to discover that.
One of the Green Mill stalwarts said she was escaping from behind the bar to go on a balls-to-the-wall vacation to Phoenix with her girlfriends. That caused a traveler on the other side of the bar to say he’s also very familiar with that area down south. Which caused the guy sitting next to him to say he once lived in Phoenix-Scottsdale. Which led to the revelation by a third patron that he also knows well of that part of Arizona and like the first guy grew up in the Manitowoc area.
Whew! Got that?
There’s more. The first guy, who loves his golf and was on the famous links down there with some buddies, was approached by a local man about his Badger insignia. “Are you from Wisconsin?”
Turns out that several people in the vicinity at the golf club were from Manitowoc, and the first guy had gone to high school with a couple of them.
A Phoenix-Scottsdale travelogue followed about not only its golf courses, but pro sports stadiums, success rate among the local women with breast enhancement, night clubs — and even the provincialism that exists between different parts of town. It also came to light that much of that area is a lot like downtown Hudson, with relatively small shops that aren’t real corporate, and the quaintness and appeal it brings.
Then days afterward another two men, different people from the first crew, shared stories about how they too loved (for the most part) Scottsdale and Phoenix. Let’s see, that’s six in all with connections to Arizona.

(Or should I say eight. At the Smilin’ Moose the other night, a patron said he’d be spending, essentially, the 12 days of Christmas all in Phoenix, to which the bartender added that he loves that area too, specifically, Scottsdale).

The comings and going continue, of some stalwarts in the local entertainment industry who are anything but greenhorns.
Specifically, they made their mark at Dick’s Bar and Grill and the Green Mill.
There was a lot of buzz just over a year ago when DJ Strong arrived from New Jersey, where he’d successfully honed his skills, and quickly developed a following at Dick’s when he was on each weekend.
Both onlookers and dancers realized right away that this was a guy that despite his Jersey roots really knew country music, despite his strong urban accent. He mixed in, of course, a lot of current stuff that caters to a young crowd, along with some ’70s tunes, and became known for his “all request” nights on many of those Friday and Saturday nights.
Alas, DJ Strong has now packed up and gone back to New Jersey to deal with some medical issues. His replacement is Darren Caster, a longtime local musician who is perhaps best known as the lead singer for the hard rock band Deviant Distraction, going back about a decade. The Double Ds played most often at the former Dibbo’s, where Darren later hosted an open mic night to bring in some additional business on Thursdays. (I remember doing a duet with him to Rebel Yell by Billy Idol that their bassist Tall Paul said was killer). Darren, it seems, will continue the all-request tradition, at least at certain junctures, and his sets also bring in old music such as that from the ’80s.
Also going strong as a deejay at Dick’s is Brando, who as a drummer also was a former rock band member. He is an occasional fill-in on weekends inside the booth.
Meanwhile, bartender Jenn who has worked at Green Mill for over a decade had an informal party as a send-off for her leaving to take a manager job at another bar and grill, just a ways east of here.
One of her regulars said that with the earlier departure of Kylee, just over a year ago, and Bobbie, this was the last remnant of the Old Guard of longtime bartenders taking their leave.
It’s become a tradition when you are a longtime worker at the Green Mill to get a cream pie in the face on your last night. Some strings were pulled and the pie was set in front of a regular patron, and Jenn, with her usual hustle-and-bustle ability, got to it first and after a bit of teasing threw it in his face rather than taking it herself. She then rubbed it on his glasses and around the outside of his cheeks — which did not prevent the guy from taking the cream that was on his glasses and joyfully ingesting it.
Who knows, maybe that regular of Jenn’s was among the couple dozen to whom she’d on an earlier night referenced with a quip, as some of them sat around the horseshoe, who was really into watching the Golf Channel and also hitting the links — maybe too much. “I have 25 regular customers who are like that,” she said to the main target of her barb. He replied that he doesn’t even like golf, much less be able to put a shot on the green; rather, he goes to the Green Mill.
So, I guess that gaff was the bartender’s equivalent of a three-putt. But considering that it recently was Jenn’s last night, we’ll give her a mulligan.

As far as the difference between Friday and Saturday costumed revelry, Halloween was a question of quantity vs. quality at nightspots, and also in this case. timing of night proved to be everything. Specifically concerning Friday, it’s apparent that the undead who decked themselves out the best just couldn’t wait until the middle of the weekend, when the costumed ghouls were far greater in number — hundreds not just dozens — but weren’t as consistently ghastly.
Still, most venues were packed to the gills on Halloween Saturday, when the vast majority of parties were held. The crowd came and went depending on the time of night, and the fact that most costume contests were held at about the same time, midnight, but in some cases ranged up to 1 a.m. Some of the almost dozen area venues that featured such contests had first-place prizes under the $100 mark, although most were in the $150 to $200 range, coming in the form of either cold cash or gift cards and certificates, but even the places with lesser amounts drew dressed-up people who sometimes numbered in the hundreds. However, the King of the Hill was the Smilin’ Moose, which offered a first-place payout of $500 on both Friday and Saturday nights, and when it got a bit later on in what actually morphed into early Sunday morning, it was standing room only, with certain of those tight, squeeze-by areas that every bar has, being simply clogged to the point that patrons with bulky costumes had trouble moving around.

All in all, though, the majority of eye-catching costumes were not as captivating as the ones the night before, when attendance was obviously less, but again they made up for that in sheer numbers that largely held firm — although there were notable exceptions — through the extra hour offered by the Daylight Savings Time change. (The way that alteration in hours played out just across the river in Minnesota, with their own notable contests being just a few-minute-drive away in places like Lakeland and Bayport, was more iffy).

With that said, here is my pick of six for Saturday, with the props they used to prop up their foreheads pushing them to the forefront, in some cases:
— One man, the most notably duded up at Seasons Tavern in North Hudson, wore what was a combination of a robot, such as Bender on Adult Swim, and beer keg. What made his costume so intriguing was that on top of the metal spigot that spiked upward from his headgear, were stacked several plastic beer glasses.
— Another was gaudily costumed and wore make-up to the hilt, but this Liberace was also carrying in front of him, not just setting on a piano, a realistic looking big candelabra.
— A French-looking painter was wearing the trademark beret, but that’s not where the act stopped. He actually was carrying a pallet of several colors, and using it to do portraits of patrons he met — or should I say brashly approached — at Dick’s Bar and Grill.
— Speaking of which, (or should I say witch), a woman nearby had her face stuck in the middle of a large picture frame containing a pastoral scene, which was enhanced by flowers on either side.
— This was quite the brat special. A man standing almost eight feet tall was dressed as the sausage that circles the field in races at Milwaukee Brewer games. No mention on the possibility of him having the famed Special Sauce as part of his get-up.
— A contestant who from the stage was called “Blue Balls” was anything but singing the blues, as he won a major prize at the Smilin’ Moose.
— Favorite picks by my friend Tom were Cheech and Chong, Sonny and Cher and The World’s Most Interesting Man. One prominent promised act we could not find at the costume contests was Eggs and Ham. Maybe that late closing ended up being too close to breakfast time.

Picking one winner among the scores of costumed creatures who were out partying on Friday, the night before Halloween, could be a tall order.
Actually, its a lot easier when the top banana is pushing nine feet tall.
That was the case with the victor in the Smilin’ Moose contest, Frankenstein, who took home a cool $500 in cash for his efforts in walking in a stilted way, just like the movie monster, and clinking glasses with anyone who was average height or above. When asked how he got around without falling on those stilt-like legs, he just shrugged. Some patrons wondered aloud how he could negotiate the much shorter bathroom door, should he feel nature’s call, or should I say that of his otherworldly creator.
As one of only a handful of nightspots having a Friday contest, the Moose had the most costumes, and other venues also had some fairly busy streaks, although they were not steady and tended to be early. People later had to make their way around the downtown without the benefit of the many street lights that were out. So early was good, as it put them where they needed to be when the Moose judging was held, (while the first-place prize was almost CEO style as far as moola, the awards dwindled to much lesser amounts after that, more along the comparative lines of a rank and file worker).
Here are some other examples of interesting garb:
— A storm trooper boasted plenty of hard white plastic, and also had a gun and big backpack that reminded me of Ghost Busters (appropriate for Halloween).
— A bunny-costumed staffer moved over a gate at the Moose to go downstairs, in what I would say was “going down the rabbit hole.”
— A couple came as characters from A League of Their Own, and guy did a good Tom Hanks impersonation.
— A man was dressed in all hot pink, unusual because the outfit even included a great big Texas-size hat.
— One of several sailors in suits, a young man went old school and had a handkerchief tucked in the large pocket-protector-type opening of his lapel.
— Devil-themed hats included both horns that were flaps and built into a red hoodie, and an antelope-style, single-pair-of-tines twisted rack. Some servers sported reindeer horns, but in at least one case these fell off while she was hustling around.
— A woman in uniform wore insignias that said “Sheriff’s Department.” I had to crane my neck to see what other writings were on that badge. Where did she hail from? It said on the bottom, “Reno, Nevada.” Considering that this is Halloween, that seemed appropriate.
— Lastly, a “priest” said that earlier in the day, people kept asking him for religious advice, thinking he was an actual man of the cloth. This took place when he was looking to buy a monkey with whom he could do a parody, ala Jethro Tull, and “bungle in the jungle,” if you know what I mean. His props included a real Bible, between the pages of which he stuck his money and other items such as a cigarette lighter, (which at first to me looked like a severed finger). He also had dangling from his neck one of the biggest crosses you’ll ever see, rivaled only by a guy from the Twin Cities who a while back was at Dick’s Bar and Grill dressed like a gangsta wannabe. The faux father had as his counterpoint a St. Patrick, who tweaked other patrons with his staff, like they were snakes or something.
There were a couple of prominent annual costumes whose owners said they would be no-shows because of other commitments. A techno music fan said that she and her boyfriend would usually dress up in “death punk” helmets, and that winning a prize would almost be a no-brainer, except they felt it would be something like insider training should they take the cake at the place she worked. Another guy who, guess what, is in such a band added he’d normally go as a punker musician, complete with mohawk.

Seasons Tavern had their biggest and baddest, not to mention scariest, Halloween costume party in their history last year, and they plan to top that benchmark on Saturday with a party that will be fun in various forms, not a gore fest or “Fright Night,” one of the servers said.
She added that despite the atmosphere of fun that’s good natured, there last year were often multiple layers of people lining up behind the horseshoe bar to get a drink at the North Hudson venue.
Of all the parties on Saturday night, with their music and costume contests for prizes, this one merits mention on the home page just because of the sheer enthusiasm shown.
The Halloween theme this year is Tavern in The Woods. “It is our sixth annual Halloween costume party and we are looking forward to a great time and seeing some great costumes,” said Brad, the owner. “The adult theme costume party really brings out the creative side in the community, and allows the individual to share their ‘inner actor.’ The tavern will be decorated very classy creepy with lighting, fog, creepy things in corners, and so forth.”
Seasons will be serving prime rib, as usual, with the possibility of rare red meat, Brad said partially in jest, along with themed cocktails and jello shots. These, I’m guessing, are in signature Halloween colors, specially priced at $2 apiece, or three for $5, (if perchance a beastie nabbed your first one).
Costume judging will be around 10:15 p.m., with cash prizes for first, second and third places. “The judging is audience participation, so bring your ‘A’ Game and your support,” Brad suggests.
The occasionally reconvened house band, the trio Thirsty Camel, which includes Brad as the drummer, plays from around 8:45 p.m. until midnight, but could indeed go on beyond the witching hour if encores are needed, which has often been the case.
“The building that Seasons is in, has been storied to be a place where spirits like to spend their waking hours, giving the staff some (reason for) raised eyebrows and ‘what the’ moments, but I liken it to just things happening that you can’t explain,” Brad said. After several years of operation, he obviously has not been spooked to the point of giving up on his late night stints of helping the staff serve food and drink. And he certainly is not speechless.
According to Sam Ricci, a past owner of a restaurant on the site, “there are some things buried in walls that would be of interest, but I will wait until I have great success at Seasons Tavern before I even start to look into that, maybe in 15 years or so,” Brad said.
“Enter the tavern if you dare,” reads a current sign on the main door that has a hoot owl surveying a graveyard and its tombstones. Such annual Halloween 8-by-11 greetings have made their mark with patrons.

(For a rundown of other Halloween parties in the Hudson area, see the Picks of the Week department elsewhere on this web site).

Whether displayed on darkened windows, ceilings or bathroom doors, or even guarding the ATM machine, club proprietors hope that all patrons will hail the monsters of All Hallows Eve, as their staffs decorate with the creatures to get ready for one of their hottest nights.
Here are examples of what you already can see at various venues:

— Halloween goes classic Hollywood at Dick’s Bar and Grill, with a nearly lifesize plastic figure of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz plastered on a window, among other caricatures and spider webs. Meanwhile, at the Green Mill, a skull draped up high over a spider web looked much like The Great and Powerful Oz himself. He probably will have dominion over any badly behaving patrons.
— Also seen around area nightclubs are vintage tin-type photos like those from a previous century, which as you pass-by and change the angle of viewing have eyes that roll back and produce a zombie — in one case positioned just a few feet away from a specially designated “zombie crossing zone,” which is just another few feet from a particular kind of fine-boned skeleton — not too tall or too small. Dozens of the latter hang from the ceiling at Dick’s, and they can be seen in smaller numbers elsewhere. The skeletons are in exactly the same style I’ve put on my gently sloped Halloween roof for years.
— On one area bathroom door, there is a sexy vampire ready to suck the life out of you. On another venue’s bathroom door, there is the other end of the hottie spectrum, an old hag ready to, literally, suck the life out of you in a less enjoyable way. (Interestingly, on the bathroom door opposite that first vampire is a mummy which is, obviously, dead),
— All around town are moss-like thicknesses of spider webs, with plastic spiders attached. At the Village Inn in North Hudson, the webs are atop the ATM machine, with the arachnids placed just to the side, in case a cash crunch bites you.
— Also at The Village, a ghost hanging from high over the far-end bar rail is in position to drag its “feet” on your head as you order. Across the way are all kinds of “dead end” signs wrapped around a thick pillar … well, I guess you might end up dead if you run into it hard. Back at Dick’s, there was a similar cautionary police line that sported striking snakes and … mice? Is that vermin actually verbatim?
— On consecutive days and nights, you could see a cashier witch sporting a pointed black hat — with plenty of orange and black feathers. For as it says on the marquee outside Historic Casanova Liquors, “We don’t have cashiers, we have spirit guides.”
— And then there’s the foot-wide orange spider at Dick’s that started living out the season’s activity by crawling downward on a door. Then it gave up the ghost, resting in peace instead. As seen hanging from the ceiling, the joint is crawling with such creatures.
— Is it simply a typo or, to reference a band that befits the coming holiday, an ode to Type O Negative? While you won’t exactly drink blood, signs seen at Dick’s list Schell Oktoberfest as the beer of the month, but say the hard-to-beat special is only “vaild” through 10 p.m. One sign added the beer is spelled Shell — like some of the popular fish they serve. Pardon an additional European reference, but with Halloween fast approaching, that first typo reminds one of Val the Impaler.
Adding to this, a band named Roughhouse that has played a lot locally, especially at the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt, boasts a member who was with a hard-core metal outfit called Impaler a couple of decades back. Alas, they will not play The Willow on Halloween weekend, although they were there earlier in October, but acts that will perform amongst the cowboy silhouette decor include the Country Outlaws on Friday evening and, much in the same vein, Strangers on Saturday.
— Talk about going from bad to worse, in the style of an old Iron Maiden song, The Number of the Beast, written about a fateful and horrific encounter with the Devil while on an evening stroll. Not to say that a traffic stop is quite that bad, but it can seem like, say, hell on wheels compared to more pleasant trips. There was, one October, an unlucky motorist stopped by the cops on the Lake Mallalieu bridge, and bearing a license number recalling that song that started with 666. Damn the luck! Hope your’s is better when you check out the sights on or before All Hallows Eve.

Keep your eye on the eight dishes of walleye at Seasons Tavern, then dig in

They’ve been through this all before, about eight years ago, and now the Thompsons and their staff are bringing their act to North Hudson.
After building a good business when at that time establishing the Houlton sports bar Guv’s Place — you know, the one with the Packer and Viking shaking hands on the sign — they are shifting gears and moving to the busy North Hudson business district, teaming with two quite similar venues to create a local go-to triangle for entertainment and cheer. But the places do have their lively and colorful characters, so it might not be completely equilateral.
Guv’s Place co-owners Dan and Jessica Thompson will take over the current Mudds ‘N Sudds location along Hwy. 35 at 726 Sixth St. N, after closing their location smack dab in the middle of Houlton in July, when their lease became unavailable.
The new Guv’s location is little more than a block away from Kozy Korner pizzaria and bar, and across the street from the Village Inn sports bar and grill, in what forms kind of an L shape.
An official opening, although it will likely roll in slowly, is set for the middle of this week, since the new owners will first have to again go before the Village Board in North Hudson, which meets Tuesday night, to shore up some license details.
“We will definitely not be corporate,” Dan said. “That’s what will distinguish us from those on The Hill.” He also said the new place will be “family based,” and will build on what had been done by the previous owners and staff, and especially their patrons. He and his wife will expand the volleyball play that was a hallmark at Mudds, especially the leagues, and add more to their food service, as well as have more tap beers than at the past Guv’s, with a nod to the proliferating crew of brews that are made locally.
Longterm goals are other activities outside, which could incorporate amenities such as more landscaping, as the current set-up doesn’t have a lot of trees except by the sand volleyball courts, and possibly a patio and likely more outdoor seating.
Guv’s has operated for the last eight years at the intersection of Hwy. 35 and County E. It will add to the Mudd’s walk-in and drive-up gourmet coffee and breakfast-treats service, with expanded morning and night hours.
Since the Thompsons officially bought Mudds in late summer, owners of the three close-together bars have thrown around strategies and ideas for beneficial events for the good of them all — including not only North Hudson, but the several-mile perimeter they each serve.
Many neighborhood enclaves are within easy walking distance, and the people who live their make good use of it, such as some of my neighbors in the locale of Cherry Circle and Fourth Street N.
In downtown Hudson, people saunter around and gravitate between all the bars and grills in a similar way, depending on just what they are seeking. Now there will be similar crossing points in North Hudson.
Such patrons making the rounds and checking out offerings here and there, will benefit from things such as games of cards and poker at various venues, including the new Guv’s, Dan said.
Being busy helps out everyone, and they avoid the pitfalls of drinking and driving. Most of the bar owners in the north part of North Hudson know one another and consider themselves friends, as many for years have patronized each other’s places, Dan said.
Though they all will have the top sports on multiple TVs, the new Guv’s Place will continue to be more brightly lit and intimate than the Village Inn and a bit more spacious than Kozy Korner, but with lower-key live entertainment and a “neighborhood bar fare” menu that doesn’t put on airs but is very tasty.
Its drive-up and walk-in gourmet coffee and breakfast-snacks lineup will be available seven days a week, giving people such as Hwy. 35 commuters an option as well as those who want to come very early to get their day going with a cup of joe, with that opportunity beginning at 6 a.m.
All of this is seen as a way to make North Hudson more of a destination place, like is often the case in its neighboring city just to the south.
Dan noted that North Hudson’s family-driven community spirit is legendary, and a very good match for the new Guv’s Place. He added that there will be a definite change in clientele as the morning coffee drinking crowd changes to afternoon, which changes to evening, as more of a bar atmosphere takes over with an offering of expanded hours of operation. But all clients, past and present and no matter what they sip on, will be welcome in this “work in progress,” he said.
Dan added there also will be synergy with the other bars in North Hudson, a few blocks to the south.
Their quite blue-collar bar had found a loyal customer base in Houlton even before it opened eight years ago, when, as its website said, passers-by stopped by to check what was going on and grab a beer — even while the Thompsons were getting their one-great-big-room space ready.
Kind of like what has been going on in North Hudson with them for the past couple of weeks.
New to Guv’s will be the multiple outdoor volleyball courts. But other old-standby attractions, for those who don’t want to get sand in their sneakers, will be fall-to-spring dart leagues, retaining their popular bean bag tournaments, and other such activities, along with live “one- or two-person bands,” many of which will feature local performers. The emphasis will shift, seasonally, from those main three outdoor activities to indoor attractions such as the music of Ella and Wade, Kyle Kohila and Trandy Blue, tried and true performers with whom Guv’s has long had success.
Look for some of those kind of tunes during the grand opening, planned for Halloween weekend, just like when the old Guv’s opened almost a decade ago. It is during this time that Jessica shows her true colors with love of scary decore, especially killer clowns. But that’s not the only holiday and special event they will play up, with Jessica going over the top to do things such as hang decorations from the ceiling.
There will be more TVs then before inside, and sports of all sorts, Dan said, adding that his wife is a huge Minnesota Wild fan, so of course there will be ticket giveaways to patrons who follow the puck. Possibly adding to the diversity is that Jessica is a notoriously big Motley Crew fan, although don’t expect the new Guv’s to rock out to that degree — except maybe for what’s on occasion played on the jukebox, which has a song selection noted for its diversity and pairing of like-styled hits.
Jessica will be Guv’s main bartender and has said that as a regular customer, she’d talked with previous owner Marc Zappa — who will always be welcome — about an arrangement such as the new one.
Many of the Guv’s staffers will remain, as well as those who were longtime stalwarts at Mudds N Sudds. Jo Ellen Steele quipped with her sly trademark candor that she’s not going to opt for an early retirement, rather stay and be a big part of the fun.
Members of the Thompson family were six-year North Hudson residents before moving to the town of St. Joseph in 2002, and Dan as the Guv even served in local government, on the St. Joseph Town Board.
As we talked in mid-September at Mudds, patrons checked out the older art prints that were no longer going to be part of the decore and were being sold, such as a Marilyn Monroe print for $10, and a map of Hudson-North Hudson for a bit more. An oversize print of Frank Zappa was still on the wall in the bathroom.
For information, check the Guv’s Place Facebook page, and its soon to be updated website: www.guvsplace.com.