LONG CREEK — For the first time in more than two-decades, Long Creek has a bar following the opening of the Long Creek Saloon on April 7.

The saloon sits in what used to be the storage room at Long Creek Mercantile. During the course of a month, the old storage room was remodeled into a bar that has seating for 18 patrons, a pool table, a dart board, an internet juke box and two televisions that air sporting events, including college football and basketball, Major League Baseball, dnd UFC Fight Nights.

“The big attractions, I think are the pool and dart boards,” Long Creek Saloon owner Dan Kreamier said. “A lot of people come in and play.”

The addition of the internet juke box and dart board came about due to a welcome coincidence. While seeking a pool table for the saloon, Kreamier said he reached out to a man who had listed a pool table for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

The table was much larger than the 7-foot pool table Kreamier desired, so he passed on that deal. The seller, however, owned an entertainment company and offered to help outfit the saloon.

“We worked with him for our darts and online, state of the art jukebox,” Kreamier said. ”He came out and set it up and programmed it and everything.”

The saloon’s opening day coincided with the finals of the NCAA basketball tournament and saw a packed house. That business has remained steady, although Kreamier said he’d like to see more business during the week.

“That will come in time,” he said.

Kreamier also said he hopes that business picks up significantly during hunting season specifically as there is nowhere for hunters to go in Long Creek after a long day of tracking game in the wilderness.

Continued adjustment

The saloon serves beer, wine and hard alcohol but will have adjustments to its menu as appropriate. Kreamier said one of the most popular requests has been Moscow mules, which the saloon does not serve.

Within the next week, the saloon will have the ginger beer that is an essential ingredient in the drink, in addition to copper mugs, the traditional beverage container for the cocktail. Due to the saloon’s small size, Kreamier said it can generally accommodate reasonable requests such as adding Moscow mules to the menu.

“We’re not going to fulfill every request that comes through the door,” he said. “No business, especially a small one like this, can do that.”

There is a desire to expand the footprint of the saloon, although there is not a set timetable for that expansion. The goal is to turn the outdoor space next to the saloon into a walled and covered seating area.

That expansion would allow for an additional 18 people to use the saloon. Kreamier said patrons still need to come through the saloon to access any future outdoor expansion to ensure nobody under 21 gains access to the area.

Community reaction

Reactions to the opening of the Long Creek Saloon have been mixed within the community, Kreamier said. There are some who are happy Long Creek has a saloon while there are others who remember the last bar in Long Creek.

“There’s I think a few people that have been here for a long time probably that weren’t so happy about it because they remember back in the day when the Mountain Inn was open across the street but it’s been closed for 25 years,” he said. “There were fights and different things over there but the demographics here have changed.”

Kreamier said the saloon hasn’t had any of those issues since its opening. The Long Creek Saloon operates with a zero tolerance policy regarding fights.

Patrons who fight in the saloon will be immediately removed from the establishment and barred from ever returning.

The saloon has the same 8 a.m. opening time as Long Creek Mercantile. Sundays and Mondays will see the saloon close at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays have a 7 p.m. closing time and Fridays and Saturdays have a 9 p.m. closing time.

Kreamier said the saloon will stay open later than 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays if there are patrons but there is a hard 11 p.m. closing time.

“We just want to be a place where people can go relax and chill out and have a cold beer and watch a game,” Kreamier said