Junction City holds some great memories for me. I worked at the Drug Store there all through high school. In fact that drug store helped put the “high” in high school for me because I stole a ton of pills during my tenure there! It was a different age back then and there wasn’t any inventory, so I made good use of the PDR and sampled many of the pills from the pharmacy.
The Drug Store has been closed for years now, but there’s a bar in Junction City that I’ve heard good things about, so I thought we’d make our weekly two beers stop there. It’s called Tavern On Prospect and let’s head out to the MBIP mobile and go and check it out!
And it's off we go, into the night...
Here we are at Junction City. This is such a cool little shopping area.
And there's the Tavern On Prospect, smack dab in the middle of the shops here.
The sign says it's open, so that's a good sign in my book.
Wow, check out the beer garden that's off to the side. One of the best in town, however it's spitting rain out, so we'll head indoors.
And in a Carol Merrill-like moment, we'll enter through door number one.
It's very nice in here and plenty of seats at the bar, let's go snag one and settle in.
Beer number one is served up by the pretty and friendly bartender on duty, April. April's a great bartender and we had a nice conversation about Peoria, this blog and bars around town. They bill this place as, "The Nicest Tavern In Town," and April certainly made that statement come true!
Here's the view from my perch at the bar.
Lights hang under the tin ceiling and illuminate the bar.
The taps are a bit spread out in here, so this is the best shot I could get of them, but luckily...
They have a listing of them that's spotlit on the wall.
Jars of homemade sangria are resting here behind the bar.
Candle-lit tables line the walls opposite the bar.
There's more tables up front here facing the neon lit front window of the bar.
April told me that the owner of Tavern On Prospect, Jeff Stevenson has family roots in Scotland, so I'm guessing he's done this Glasgow Pub Crawl that's up on the wall in here.
Obligatory Guinness mirror shot!
Check out this photo on the wall, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend and Elton John. I don't think I've ever seen a photo of these three musicians together before this. Very cool!
A shot from the back of the bar. As you can see, it's a dark bar and I like that!
April told me this is an original piece of art from an artist in Chicago. It caused a Peoria Hot Dog Wars flashback for me!
Here's Jon and Erin who just got off duty from the Black Rabbit bar in downtown Peoria. Jon's the General Manager there and Erin's the lead bartender. She also bartends here on Thursday nights, so stop by and say hi when you get a chance.
Just in case you were wondering, Tavern On Prospect is an official Blackhawks bar. So there!
Here's a long shot of the highly polished wooden bar in Tavern On Prospect.
Here's Nik who was the other bartender on duty. In addition to being a friendly bartender and a great guy, Nik's a musician and plays in the folk/rock duo Nick and Jack, you can check them out here at their website.
And as the second beer of the evening is served up, Nik and April do double duty on a twin flipping of the birds here at MBIP, a first! We'll see you all tomorrow.
Tavern On Prospect
5901 N Prospect Rd.
Peoria
309-693-8677
Related posts: Two Beers @: MIke’s Tavern, Linda Lou’s 119 Tavern and The Owl’s Nest.
Bonus Mt. Olive Event Alert!
Mt. Olive Church, the place that let us do a fun blog after I scared the hell out of them is having a party this Saturday! It’s their annual Neighborhood Appreciation Party and it happens tomorrow, Saturday the 14th. The party is in appreciation to all the neighborhoods that surround the church.
There’s free food, a bouncy house, face painting, games for all ages, prizes for the kids, a Peoria Fire Truck and fun interaction with your neighbors, some of whom you may never have met. And who knows, maybe Pastor Mark will hand out some of those pickles I gave him! One thing is for sure, you should be there or you will be square. Totally L7 baby! The party starts at 11AM and runs till around 2PM, stop by and say hi to Pastor Mark and the gang from Mt. Olive. They’re great and fun people!