After months of anticipation and renovations, River Bottom Tavern and Brewhouse opened its doors to a festive crowd for the St. Patrick’s Day holiday.
Decked out in green lights with specialty pizzas, corn beef and Irish cocktails available to order, plus live music by Farmer Josh Reinitz, the bar’s soft opening marked the first of many more celebratory bashes to come.
Now that River Bottom’s bar space is almost fully renovated, the former Henderson Roadhaus building will be open to the public every Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. and until 10 p.m. on Sundays. The Henderson Event Center next door will continue to be open Thursdays for the weekly Lions Club Bingo and for special events.
Owner Kelly Horning, who purchased the buildings back in December, aims to reestablish the space as a place where the community can gather for lunch and dinner, specialty drinks and events that they won’t see anywhere else in the region.
“I’m trying to bring events to the area so we can be a fun space where you don’t always have to drive to Minneapolis to do something that’s new and interesting,” said Horning. “I feel like we kind of lack that around here.”
Knowing how important having an event and restaurant space is to a community, she and her husband Ryan Horning, owners of Scenic Escape Barn, joined together with longtime business partners Craig and Linnea Bullert, owners of A-Town Tavern and Chef Craig’s Catering out of Arlington, to remodel the properties and keep Henderson’s downtown events scene alive.
Since renovations began this winter, the owners have redone the historic bar while preserving its old world aesthetic and touched up the wooden flooring. The event center now sports a black ceiling, new tiling, upgraded bathrooms and a fully equipped bar.
But work on the brewhouse is still far from complete. In the bar space, Horning is planning to renovate the bathrooms and redo the building’s back door to bring the outside patio in.
“In nice days in the summer and spring here, we’re hoping to have more of an indoor/outdoor presence there so people can feel that patio space a little bit more,” said Horning. “I don’t think it’s been used like I feel like it could be so we’re going to redo that space out there as well to make it feel more inviting.”
The decks in the front and back of the building will also be redone to enhance their presence, Horning said. And with the new Hummingbird Hurrah trail being established alongside construction on County Road 6, Horning hopes the patio space will be inviting to cyclists and motorcyclists alike.
The restaurant and brewery portions of the business are still on the way. Work is just getting started on the kitchens, but in the meantime customers will be able to order daily specials and pizzas catered by the Bullerts. Work on the brewery, which will occupy the event center, is to take place later this year.
Since opening, River Bottom Tavern already has events in the works like Le Sueur-Henderson’s second annual Dueling Pianos fundraiser. The event at 6 p.m. Saturday features two skilled pianists battling it out in a musical competition as they take popular song requests from the audience. The event is catered with a pasta bar and proceeds go towards scholarships to help families put their children through preschool.
“It’s quite the event. Sometimes the two pianos will just go back and forth. They’ll have a theme, and they’ll just feed off of each other,” said Community Education Director Nate Warden. “It’s a unique experience.”
Last year the event raised around $3,000 for preschool scholarships, and organizers are hoping this year’s event will surpass that total.
In the future, patrons will also be able to find karaoke night at River Bottom Tavern and open mic nights on the patio.
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