It’s Tops For Kids, Bar None

In the past month and a half, Eagles Aerie 54 has taken off like a jet. In a town of roughly 1,000, the club has signed on 127 new members, 44 of them women. Community pillars like Harry Magnuson, Don Grebil and Bill Zanetti are making sure their memberships are up-to-date.

What happened? Well, they re-opened the bar.

Chuck Harrod, chairman of the trustees of the aerie and a force behind the sudden renaissance, admits people may be joining because of the club’s discounted drinks. But he doesn’t apologize for the fact.

“At least we know where the money’s going,” he said. “It’s going to the kids.”

Thanks to revenue from the bar, the club was able to donate $100 to Wallace High School’s computer program in September, and another $100 to Silver Hills Middle School’s computer program this month. Members hope their efforts will escalate.

“Every time you get a lot of people together, it’s great,” Harrod said. “Everyone’s volunteering. We’re not just going to sit in the bar and drink.”

“Whatever doesn’t cover operating costs will go to children,” said bar manager Barbara Finney. “Our goal is to donate something every month at least.”

Until the bar threw open its doors Sept. 12, membership was hovering around 80. The Cedar Street establishment had been closed for 10 years, and the club had listed the entire building for sale without getting much response, according to Eagle Dale Springer.

“It needed a lot of work. Nobody thought that reopening the place would work out,” Springer said.

But brisk alcohol sales at the Eagles’ booth at Molly b’Damn Days in Murray gave Harrod and club president Mike Condon food for thought. Both felt anxious not to let the aerie, chartered in 1900, die.

“We were able to donate some good profit from the booth to kids,” Harrod said. “All the time we were up there, I kept thinking how much cheaper it would be to just get a liquor license down here.”

Opening the bar would require more than a license, the two realized. It would take hard work, startup funding, and the right person to manage the bar.

Condon volunteered to supply the money. Harrod signed up people like Dale Springer, Axel Carlson and Dan Finney for cleanup and fix-it projects. One night over drinks, he talked Finney’s wife into managing the bar.

“We’re turning into the liveliest place in town and Barbara’s responsible for a lot of that. She’s a pain in the neck, but we love her,” Harrod said.

Barbara Finney, a former Coeur d’Alene bar owner, thought she had a pretty good grasp of what she was getting into. Not so.

“I’ll tell you how this is different,” she said. “I just got 83 new bosses last month.”

Finney said the club opened with a till of $60 - proceeds from a work party the previous night, when all the workers paid for their own drinks. Even with no opening-day advertising, she ended the evening with over $300.

“Was I surprised? No. I figured it would be a success,” she said.

Harrod predicts this is just the beginning.

“You haven’t seen anything yet. Wait until Eagles from out of the area start busing over here to spend the day. It can’t help but help the county,” he said.

, DataTimes MEMO: Bekka Rauve is a freelance writer who lives in the Silver Valley.