Ice, ice baby! The weather’s impact on local partying has been more than just vanilla

Who knows where the cold wind blows … But until the bad weather stops, weird things will continue to happen to local party-goers at their nightlife events.
— The PepperFest’s ceremonial pepper, which stands the height of a corn stalk, has again become part of the frozen foods. The iconic village vegetable sculpture was kidnapped by local ninja-dressed wannabes who asked a ransom for charity as part of an annual ritual, and is back where it should be, propped up to just above the snowbanks, which is a tall order, outside of the house of my neighbor Ron. He happens to be the PepperFest king. Since its return to its rightful place, the top of the pepper was first adorned with a impressive deer rack and hide to mark the hunting season, then the bottom with a big banner that said “Merry Christmas.” Since then, the hide blew off the top for a brief time in one of our icy windstorms.
— Speaking of ice, if you glanced to the north side of Coulee Road after a night out on the town, and saw what looks like a cascading snow sculpture wider than two garage doors, it wasn’t necessarily because you imbibed. The people at Casanova Historic Liquors and The Nova have created the icescape that is across the street, and their sign directs drivers to take a look at “the eighth wonder of the world.” Recently, a truck below the sculpture was scraping snow from the street. Not sure if he was making way for more viewers, or adding yet another layer of ice to the work of art.
— Part of the recent deep freeze was that fewer people braved the cold to get a beer. That was only true to a point, however, as my friend Rich pointed out on a particularly frigid night that there would soon be two busloads of 75 people each pulling into Dick’s Bar and Grill. (And that wasn’t even on a weekend).
— Despite the cold, the band Saving Starz really packed them in at the Village Inn in North Hudson, and guitarist Geno, who always has something to say, spent some time talking about things like how in extreme cold, beer can freeze before it even hits your lips. That was applicable because one of his cohorts, Jethro, had Packer tickets the next day on the 50-yard line, in a game whose temps would rival the Ice Bowl.
— The next day, Guv’s Place in Houlton was actually closed for business because of the cold, although the night before, as far as conveying the bar’s coming status, the bartender’s knowledge was a little “green.” (Sorry if that tropical reference hurts).
— Jeff Loven at Dick’s also drew quite a crowd, and the reason people risked near frostbite was the birthday of Brandon, a longtime worker there. A photograph of his face on a stick was a popular part of the evening, and one friend even sported a pair of the images — one in front of his face and another propped into his pants. For his part, Brandon said celebratory shots had a bomb theme, Jag Bombs and Irish Car Bombs (which could have the abbreviation of an ICBM missile).
— With the cold come certain (libation) advantages. The beer of the month at Dick’s had been, fittingly, Alaskan Amber, and Kozy Korner in North Hudson took a reverse turn and had advertized Summer Shandy. Across the way, Village Liquor in keeping with the season had their “Elf on the Shelf” special for two dollars off the top — is that off the price or the height of a typical elf?
— Love to see, shortly, what they give this guy: It goes to show, never leave your driver’s license on the car seat after a hit and run, even if it’s just with a building. That’s what one person did late last year, in the wee hours of a Saturday morning, when allegedly weaving and then driving over great big stump, then hitting the porch of the Octogon House. The person, wouldn’t you know it being from the Twin Cities, then allegedly left the scene. Police soon after made plans to take the person into custody, so the matter could work its way through the courts. Should be pretty easy to find, since they’ve got the DL — unless of course it’s a fake ID.
— Snippets from back in New Year’s celebrations: The cold theme continued, as a couple stood outside the Agave Kitchen and did not go inside for their extended kiss (they must be in the new infatuation stage). At Dick’s, the PDA continued as despite the limited room, there was a lot of twerking going on, (word to the wise, or not so wise, in tight quarters you have about ten square feet to dance with, so respect it. The guy ordering a drink in front of me, and I could only see the back of his shaved head, complete with ears sticking out, was a splitten’ image of President Obama. Lastly, a friend of mine said she had this opportune night to celebrate her 21st birthday, and sat on the curb to linger outside Ellie’s and (1) get my well wishes, (2) continue the B-day experience and (3) most importantly make sure her ride was indeed coming.
— And now snippets from the Christmas season: At Buffalo Wild Wings, there was a big, red and green colored mistletoe in the doorway to the back room, although no one seemed to be taking advantage. Shortly before Christmas Day itself, their was a Santa wandering aimlessly by himself down the sidewalk in downtown Stillwater (don’t know what he was doing). We do know what this other guy was doing, as Santa himself appeared to be a music lover and was seen taking in the band at Guv’s Place back in late November, the first such sighting of St. Nick this holiday. Around the same time, a deer was seen running around the shoulder on the main highway just south of Guv’s, alternately traipsing between the ditch and the edge of the road (could this be construed as Run, Run, Rudolph?) Lastly, an area holiday party played The Grinch Stole Christmas on big screen TV, then had, of all people, the Grinch himself come in the back door and give presents to the kids, who didn’t seem to mind the change-up. There was no immediate word on how many sizes this made this heart grow.
— And lastly at Buffalo Wild Wings, during the NCAA championship football game between the far-afield teams of Florida State and Auburn, there were some people in the house who didn’t look too local and just had to be alumni of those southern schools, based on how loudly they were cheering each small gain.