Tin Roof Tavern

For years, if you wanted something stronger than lemonade or pop to wet your whistle at the Steele County Free Fair, you headed to the beer garden.

That changed in 2019, with the addition of the Steele Saloon, which serves hard alcohol.

Then came the break for COVID, which paused everything.

There was another first in 2021: “Last year was the first year we tried selling liquor on band nights at the grandstand, and it went over really well,” said SCFF Director Doug Meier.

It went over well, but it wasn’t easy or efficient, working off tables, under a tent.

“We said, if this is going to go, and we’re going to make this happen, let’s build something where our people are under a roof, and there are serving counters, and if we want to, we can rent it out,” he said.

Introducing: Tin Roof Tavern, a portable bar that will be set up in the infield of the track during this year’s concerts at the SCFF.

Fairgoers attending music performances at the grandstand on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights will be able to purchase liquor from the new tavern. Though it’s portable, it won’t be going anywhere else during Fair week, Meier said.

Drinks will be sold during Saturday’s bull-riding events also, but not from the trailer. The liquor will be back on those tables in the grandstand since no one will be allowed in the infield.

The 8-foot-by-20-foot bar can hold up to eight people working inside. The hope is to have a cashier in the middle, a bartender on either side and two bar-backs, providing support.

Ice will be kept in NSF-certified ice chests and two ceiling fans will keep air moving, Meier said. Beer will not be available from the tavern.

“We just had a one-year run at (selling liquor), and we realized we needed to make some changes,” he said. “I drew it up, and Welker Construction built it from the floor up.”

The company donated the labor.

Having the trailer near the Steele Saloon means workers there can “just slide over” to help out in the tavern. Both are staffed completely by volunteers.

While it makes its debut at the fair, the hope is to eventually rent out the Tin Roof Tavern, Meier said.

“We do a lot of weddings in the Foundation building, and we can set that thing in the corner…” he said. “It doesn’t have to be a ‘bar;’ you can serve food out of it.”

There are jacks on all four corners; “you slide the tires in and put the pins in, and down the road you go,” Meier said.

None of the details for its public use have been worked out.

“We haven’t even talked about it,” he said. “We’ll worry about that after the Fair.”