FINDING
only customers, as we walked in during the early afternoon hours.
We gave our orders (a few big beers available and they were out of
many major brand liquors) on this Saturday afternoon. The place
had a creepy, haunted vibe to it, and our bartender’s personality was
only helping to push these thoughts forward.
We headed over to Manley, Nebraska, a small town with a bar
and grill called The Get-Away. We walked in and they looked
prepared for spill over from the duck races, but it was just a handful
of town-folk when we got there. It was a nice bar that had obviously
been remodeled in recent years. They had quite a few tables, a
shuffleboard table, pool table and a loaded digital jukebox that kept
displaying obscure new wave 80’s hits as possible choices. I found
that to be odd.
We all ordered some food from the typical bar menu of fried
by Marq Manner
appetizers and burgers, French dips, chicken items, salads and such.
I ordered some gizzards which came up super overcooked, were
hard to eat and not very enjoyable. The burgers and other items
ordered looked pretty good for bar food though. This place has a
massive beer garden that you could hold live music events in (and
they do) easily. It was pretty impressive, especially for a town that is
essentially a village.
When out in the beer garden you see a large barn type structure
on the horizon. I asked what it was and they said it is called The
Loft and they do theater there. I was told about an upcoming
performance of The Wizard of Oz that was happening soon.
Shortly, every one of those party buses from Avoca was pulling up
ometimes, when trying to find places to check out in small
and the place got very packed. We literally pushed our way through
towns around the state, you end up finding something good
the throngs of people queuing for a drink and women dancing on
closer to home.
chairs to Ted Nugent songs to the door.
This happened to me recently when a group of friends made a
Once we got back into Papillon, we ended up at a place called
trip to Avoca, Nebraska, and the surrounding area, for the annual
Quack-Off Duck Races. It was once a less attended affair and more Brownies Watering Hole. Located in their old town area, it resides
in a building that has been there since 1906. A large, open dive bar
of a small town party where you spent more time in the town’s one
and dining area that felt more like a small town than any we had
bar than watching the ducks. Now, it is very well attended with
buses carrying people in and the bar no longer exists. Our time here been in that day. We were seated at the only open table in the place
on a busy Saturday night.
was short as it was so crowded, and people were fall-down drunk
I looked at the menu, saw the prices and was pretty shocked.
before the first race started. It did give us a good starting
I had to ask if these were the lunch prices. They were not. I ordered
point though.
a burger and got a very satisfying large, juicy handmade burger
made of quality meat on a good fresh bun. The steak fries that were
“Brownies Watering Hole felt more
served with the burger were excellent. A burger, fries and a mixed
like a small town than any we had
drink on a Saturday night didn’t even cost a ten spot (without tip).
It was not patio weather, but being a smoker, I stepped out on
been in that day.”
it and it looks like one of the best patios in the metro area. A nice,
very large and private wooden patio with built-in seats and tables.
Then we headed to Weeping Water and found a bar with the
After driving around the outer fringes of the metro looking for fun
hopeful name of Hoppies. Hoppies turned out to be a dive bar in
an old bank with a lot of NASCAR big-beer signage on the wall and and food, it was on the trip back into town where I found a spot
that I will be visiting time and time again.
not a hop-filled craft beer emporium. A bartender leered at us, the
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