Back in 2016, the Omaha World-Herald covered Steve Ourecky's efforts to renovate and rejuvenate the Fox Hole Tavern -- a fixture on Wilber's main street since the end of World War II."Five generations of my family have had a beer there," Ourecky said. "It’s just a piece of the community I didn’t want to see die."
Rural communities need more of the pride demonstrated by Ourecky. We can all learn something from him.
Ourecky’s late grandmother Irma was known as “Mrs. Wilber” for her longtime involvement in the annual Czech festival and the Nebraska Czechs of Wilber, a 60-year-old group that works to preserve Czech heritage through a museum, a cultural center and the annual festival.
Ourecky said that at one time, the tavern had the longest-running contract with Schlitz beer in the state.
The World-Herald story says "Ourecky bought the bar on Jan. 1, and has so far stripped the structure, built before 1888, back to its bricks. He wants to restore it to its glory days in the 1950s. He found an old fox painting that used to hang in the bar, hired a taxidermist to restore old elk and fox mounts that used to hang in the bar, and is re-creating the old wooden booths.
"Ourecky said he’d like to locate one of the old card tables, which, he’s told, had a slate top for scorekeeping and a handy shelf below to park frothy glasses of pivo. A local collector also gave him a batch of Fox Hole Tavern tokens, redeemable for 5 cents apiece, that were used in card games."
“'I’m getting a lot of support from the community,' he said. 'I’m very happy about that.'
"The name of the bar came not from a local critter but from the original owner, who had just returned from World War II, according to Ourecky.
"When asking for a loan from a local banker, he was told to create 'a foxhole that fellow soldiers would want to come back to.'”
This example shows what can be done in Wilber -- and in Dorchester and similar rural communities.
See the Fox Hole article here.
Ourecky’s late grandmother Irma was known as “Mrs. Wilber” for her longtime involvement in the annual Czech festival and the Nebraska Czechs of Wilber, a 60-year-old group that works to preserve Czech heritage through a museum, a cultural center and the annual festival.
Ourecky said that at one time, the tavern had the longest-running contract with Schlitz beer in the state.
The World-Herald story says "Ourecky bought the bar on Jan. 1, and has so far stripped the structure, built before 1888, back to its bricks. He wants to restore it to its glory days in the 1950s. He found an old fox painting that used to hang in the bar, hired a taxidermist to restore old elk and fox mounts that used to hang in the bar, and is re-creating the old wooden booths.
"Ourecky said he’d like to locate one of the old card tables, which, he’s told, had a slate top for scorekeeping and a handy shelf below to park frothy glasses of pivo. A local collector also gave him a batch of Fox Hole Tavern tokens, redeemable for 5 cents apiece, that were used in card games."
“'I’m getting a lot of support from the community,' he said. 'I’m very happy about that.'
"The name of the bar came not from a local critter but from the original owner, who had just returned from World War II, according to Ourecky.
"When asking for a loan from a local banker, he was told to create 'a foxhole that fellow soldiers would want to come back to.'”
This example shows what can be done in Wilber -- and in Dorchester and similar rural communities.
See the Fox Hole article here.
Great article.
ReplyDeleteI don't care what the two candidates for president are saying, it comes down to the four "C's" ---class, character, commitment and community. Our great grandparents and grandparents had them. We do not. Get them back and you've solved most of our modern problems.