A couple of months ago I was at the Red Barn on a Thursday night, talking with Randy and we were discussing his famous Coney Dogs that he serves every Saturday afternoon at The Red Barn. I was whining that I can never make it there on Saturdays because I have to work in the afternoon and evenings every Saturday. So we put our heads together and came up with a great idea: Why not have an MBIP Coney Dog party on my night off, which is Thursday. And so, last night, that’s exactly what we did and below are some photos from this wonderful festival of Coney Dogs and friends!
Here we are at The Red Barn and check out the pumpkin on the door! As I made my way in past the bar I saw Randy back in the kitchen area hard at work on his famous Coney Dogs! He makes his own Coney dog sauce and he’s been tweaking it for years now. Here he is putting one together with the works: Ketchup, mustard, homemade Coney sauce and onions all housed in a fresh, steamed hot dog bun!
Is that a work of art or what? Best looking Coney Dog I’ve ever seen and as good as it looks, it tastes about thirteen times better, these are so delicious!
There’s myself and Randy and I'm performing my patent-pending "MBIP point at the Coney Dog" pose. As you can see the bar is all filled up and there’s Amber, Diane and Chuck enjoying a pre-Coney dog drink at a nearby booth. Bartender Cherry just got off work and is posing with Amanda and Thommy and there’s Tim and Jeanette who just walked in and they look like they’re ready for a couple of Coney Dogs! Jim and Anne were sitting at the bar and Jim’s going to be playing tonight at the Red Barn Friday Open Stage, so stop by and check him out if you can! Tracy came all the way from Elmwood for the party and it was great to finally meet her after trading comment on facecrack!
I love this corner in the back room that features local artwork. Bob Whitaker is featured along with several other local artists and all the art on the wall is for sale if you see something you’d like to take home. Great artwork here!
Here’s the stage that features live music here at the Barn every week. I took a photo from the stage of the art corner and saw a couple people over by the gaming machines, it’s Rob standing near the gaming area and Luke who’s doing double duty drinking and playing the machines over here.
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Randy’s getting some help with the Coney Dogs from Karen, who’s also helping out on bartender duty tonight!
As you can see, there’s a full bar in here tonight! There’s Jon with Chuck waiting on a couple of Coney Dogs and Tori and Dick were hanging out at a booth nearby. John and De from Smiley Graphix were up at the front of the bar talking with Terry Grawey, Hypnohumorist and Ranch Dressing enthusiast! De showed a picture of her and John celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and then John countered by doing a new performance art piece he’s just worked up and it’s featured here in the last photo. It’s called: “Spilling A Beer On The Bar” by John Ingles. Inspired work, as always, John. You continue to be the wind beneath my wings!
Check out this table in the last booth on the left, it’s got a carving of one of Peoria’s bar owners on it, can anyone find it? And at the table top at the first booth was a nice surprise that Rick and Randy had waiting for me. It’s a framed copy of the last issue of POP magazine with an Emo Philips autograph on it! Rick got the Emo autograph and Randy framed it and if you want to see it, it’ll be on display at The Red Barn for a month or so, on loan from Rick's archives. Thanks for doing this guys, it made my evening!
It’s always nice to see Thomas on the other side of the bar and he was hanging out with Tracy. Don and Sherri were nearby and I learned that Don used to work with Luke and they had a reunion last night! And the bottom photo shows Randy talking on what must be one of Peoria’s last working pay phones! I love it!
As soon as Randy hung up, he went to work on one last batch of Coney Dogs for the crowd! I love the Pabst condiment containers!
The crowd thinned out a bit as the evening wore on and I was bound and determined to get a shot of Don and Sherri’s dog, Lily looking into the MBIP Camera. After a few failed attempts, I got the shot!
Here’s everyone watching the Cubs win last night! They might just make the World Series after all! How’s about them Cubbies?
And here’s a shot of the remaining crowd from the first ever MBIP Coney Dog party gathered around the bar!
Thanks to Randy and Karen for the wonderful Coney Dogs and to everyone who came and hung out! It was wonderful to see everyone and it was a real blast! I can’t wait to do this again next year! And if you want to sample these fantastic Coney Dogs, Randy serves them every Saturday afternoon at The Red Barn, stop on by and I bet you can’t eat just one! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
The Red Barn
621 W. Glen Avenue
Peoria
309-692-3792
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