Goin’ down fightin’

The beer ran cold and the drinks were stiff Saturday at the Fightin’ Creek Bar and Restaurant along U.S. Highway 95.

Thankfully the patrons were thirsty, because no one was allowed to leave the tavern 15 miles south of Coeur d’Alene until all the libations had been consumed. That includes the coffee, not that anybody was drinking it.

“No one goes home until it’s all gone,” said Janell Chmelar, the bar’s owner.

After eight years, Chmelar is selling the landmark tavern that also serves as the community’s capital.

Saturday was the last day of business and many of the bar’s regulars (including some feral cats) swarmed the place Saturday night for one “last stand.”

“We started the funeral early,” said Betty Johnson, who traveled all the way from St. Regis, Mont., for the last call.

She stood outside the tavern, hours before it was set to open, drinking a cold one with those who came to reminisce and give the watering hole a proper send-off.

“It’s a sad day. A real sad day,” Johnson said.

The tavern is the only place to stop for a cold drink and a bite to eat between Coeur d’Alene and the casino in Worley. Many friendships have been created there.

The tavern is perhaps best known for its “Chamber of Commerce,” and annual mayoral elections.

Each November, the mayor of the unincorporated area is elected by patrons who stop in for a cold one over a 30-day period. One beer bought you one vote. Cheating was encouraged.

The “chamber” is actually a two-hole outhouse, and the mayor’s job was to clean the outhouse and keep it stocked with toilet paper.

“It’s kind of a well-neglected job,” said the youngest mayor ever to be elected, Nick Lepire, 21, who is also the owner’s son. He was mayor from 2003 to 2004.

The sole mandate is to “drink beer and have fun,” Lepire said.

“It’s just fun, and has nothing to do with reality,” said Dick Wandrocke, who served as mayor from 1991 to 1992.

Wandrocke, 71, has also served as the unofficial cheerleader for the tavern since he first stepped foot inside in the early 1990s.

“My husband was a city boy, and I was shocked to hear he went into the Fightin’ Creek,” said Wandrocke’s wife, Shirley. “I said ‘It’s dangerous to be over there.’ “

But he kept going back. After he was elected mayor, Wandrocke’s pewter mug – engraved and given to all mayors – found a permanent home behind the bar.

Saturday’s “last stand” was expected to be the largest gathering in the history of the tavern.

Chmelar said she planned to turn over ownership to Nick Matheson – whose family owns the smoke shop connected to the tavern – by Friday.

It’s unclear what he will do with the building.

“It will still be here, but I don’t think he will continue the bar,” Lepire said.

He may use the building to expand the smoke shop.

To show his support, Lepire wore one of the “last stand” T-shirts made by a local patron, with a picture of an outhouse and the words “I was there” printed on the front and “Fightin’ Creek’s last stand” printed on the back.

Most of the 18 mayors elected since 1987 were expected to show up Saturday and help “drink the place dry,” Wandrocke said.

“It’s been interesting over the years,” Wandrocke said. “We’re definitely honoring the death of Fightin’ Creek tonight.”