We decided to name him Greg, after Greg. He will be on long term loan to us and hang behind the bar.
Many of you have been asking for an update, so here's where we are at:
This past weekend Jeff, myself, our brother Brent, cousin Rick along with Trannie painted the interior of the bar a very vibrant red. It looks pretty sweet with the black ceiling- So thanks to everyone who helped out!
You need to come and see it for yourself!
We're having an Open House on August 4th from 4pm - 8pm. Everyone is welcome! We'll have some food and probably some Old Style or Black Label for your enjoyment. Meanwhile Money will be for sale as well as Meanwhile T-shirts. We should have the bar re-finished by then and hopefully some booths installed.
As many of you know, we were hoping to be open by now, but holy crap, every step of this process has been significantly more complicated than we expected and takes two to three times as long as one is originally told. So, huge apologies for delay, after delay, after delay. Thanks for still being interested in what we're trying to do!
But we're making good strides. The walk-in cooler is being ordered this morning as well as the sweet neon sign we were able to get through the Historic Preservation Commission. Our financing has been secured through Mercantile, our insurance is in place, our bar manager has been hired....
We're taking the old mantra, "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle" to heart on this project! We've got the beautiful cherry bar and back-bar we inherited from Two Stans, we've got booths we picked up when Kurly's Corner renovated their space, we've got table bases from the old Adobe on Fulton, we've got chairs from Wing On restaurant on Michigan, we've got lights and tables from various Goodwill's, and it is all going to look pretty fantastic!
As our financing came in lower than we were hoping, we're asking that you consider purchasing some Meanwhile Money. Huge thank you's to Cole Ruth, Fouad Catrib, Ryan at Morning Star and Katie Donavan who have been our largest supporters through this fundraiser. And thanks to all of you who have purchased these fancy bills.
You can purchase Meanwhile Money and Meanwhile t-shirts at www.meanwhilebar.com. You can also check us out on the MySpace at myspace.com/meanwhilebar and you can e-mail us at meanwhilebar[at]gmail.com
Thanks to Greg for the hammerhead shark which we just found out is a chic, but we'll still call it Greg. Thanks to Kaomi Goetz for the NPR story and to Rapid Growth and to the Grand Rapids Magazine (article coming soon). And thanks to Bearmanor for everything! They did a great job getting the building ready. (You should rent one of their spaces to live in or open your business in.)
Look for a notice coming soon that we are accepting resumes. As for an opening date, there are still many variables such as a final inspection by the liquor commission, the health department, and the fire inspector. But we're getting close, oh so close and you'll be the FIRST to know when we've got the go-ahead to finally open those doors and pour you that first beer or jack and coke or cup of organic fair trade coffee-
Until next time-
tami
co-owner
the meanwhile bar
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Here is a Marushka inspired painting i did a while back:
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RUSSIAN CIRCLES
Enter 12 inch LP
(fric-031/hwc-015)
MP3
You can order one here:
Friction Records
