Palouse Lions Club gets state beer-wine license

The Palouse Lions Club now has a license to operate a bar for members and guests. The project which started after the new Brick Wall Bar and Grill burned down in April will now come to fruition sometime in September, according to plans by the 30-member club.

The state Liquor Control Board granted the group a private club beer and wine license July 24 to serve “by the glass to its members and guests.”

The renewable, annual license cost is $180, which will be part of calculations about how long the bar stays open.

“We hope it will generate some money,” said Palouse Lions Club President Loren Estes. “It’s our own money, but if it doesn’t break even, it’s gonna close pretty quick.”

Estes indicated the opening is on hold until after harvest and Palouse Days Sept. 13.

An inspection will be completed by the Liquor Control Boar to confirm the floor plan is what they submitted. An inspector will also bring law-required signs such as “No One Under 21 Admitted.”

“It’s up to them to schedule the inspection so we’re kind of waiting on them,” Estes said.

Meanwhile the Palouse Lions have a credit application to fill out for Odom Distributors of Pullman for the beer and wine.

Popcorn will be on hand but no other food.

Lions members haven’t determined which days and what hours the club will be open which will require a member to sign in a guest.

“We’ll probably open our club on a very limited basis,” Estes said.

The Palouse Lions Club hall is above the Palouse Library. It was once a fully operational bar in the 1950s – with slot machines and a jukebox – when it was the American Legion.

“It was quite a little enterprise in the day,” said Estes.

Palouse Lions Club began in 1968, and they have rented the location from the city since the early ‘70s.

In the process of making plans to open it as a bar, this spring the city updated the lease agreement after not being able to locate the original.

“They’ve been up there for so many decades, people were having a hard time finding the lease,” Palouse Mayor Michael Echanove told the Gazette earlier this summer.

The Lions’ idea of opening the hall as a social club encountered no resistance from the city council.

“There’s no concerns in particular that the city has with this project,” said Echanove. “The city is not objecting to what they’re doing.”

Once the club is open, volunteers will be behind the glass-block bar.

“Everyone goes to bartender school,” Estes said, referring to the law-required online training. “We’ll probably have eight or 10 of us qualified as bartenders.”

A locking refrigerator was the only item needed to be added to prepare for opening.

The popcorn machine was already in place.

“We’ve always had popcorn up there,” Estes said.

Last winter, members happened to dig out a few old pictures and financial records which they in turn framed and put up on the walls.

The Lions Club earns money throughout the year from their hamburger stand which is seen at events such as Palouse Days, Palouse Music Festival and Haunted Palouse.

Right now, Lions members are working on organizing Palouse Days’ events such as the car show, breakfast and duck races.

“We’ll just kind of play it by ear,” Estes said. “If it’s successful, and the members like it, we’ll probably keep doing it.”