In the bar biz, servers often switch the places where they work, for various reasons that include more lucrative financial possibilities, often bringing their clientele of regulars with them. However, in recent weeks there have been more comings and goings of longtime servers than usual, in part because new bars on the scene gain traction.
For example, there have been four such additions at the Village Inn in North Hudson recently. Bartenders Darren and Tricia have come over from the former Coach’s in River Falls, which is now under new management, and Devon traded her gig in Vegas for The Village in part to escape the high pressure lifestyle. Amanda has come from a long stint at Dick’s Bar and Grill to take over some management responsibilities at The Village. One of the other stalwarts at Dick’s for as long as anyone can remember, Terri, also made such a switch, going over to the also relatively new Stone Tap.
The addition of the Smilin’ Moose had also brought changes, as a number of people passed up their then-current gigs to go work there, and two of them later moved to Pudge’s to shore up some of their management end. And when the Moose opened, some of the longtime employees at its predecessor, Bob Smith’s Sports Club, moved along to the Willow River Inn in Burkhardt.
(Among the more compelling sidelights with the Smilin’ Moose staff was a bartender who also plays in a mostly punk band that had a combo of members who were either Christian, atheist or agnostic, which made for some interesting, if not lyrically challenging songwriting).
Jenelle, who worked at Ellie’s for years, is now at Dick’s, and a fellow bartender at Ellie’s, Fawn, had moved there from a long stint at the former Corner Bar in River Falls. And Josie, who was a fixture behind the bar at Woody’s in Bayport, is studying to get into another end of the industry, that being a chef — with an occasional stint as a bartender a block down at the American Legion hall.
Whew! All this makes it seem less over-the-top when a decades-long bartender who was synonymous with the former Dibbo’s, named Forrest, who was famous for saying life is fantastic and that every day is a good day, moved to Baldwin to get out of the bar biz and ramp up his motorcycle repair shop there.
— It’s not only your favorite bartender, who you follow from here to there, who is interesting. A cardboard cutout of “the world’s most interesting man,” as he is billed, has been showing up at local bars, and in one case, a patron just could not get over the fact that the guy next to him was this stellar gentleman. In particular, the fact that the WMIM, who was pushing beer, is about six feet tall seemed to be very intimidating. That meant he was moved by the patron to the space between the two bathrooms at Green Mill, a humbling fact to say the least. At least his newfound doorman space was shifted now and then to be closer to one bathroom door than the other, before Mr. Interesting disappeared from sight. (All this is reminiscent of a scrawling on the bathroom wall at Maverick’s Corner Saloon in downtown River Falls, which said simply “Humble me,” then gave a phone number).