I’ve had a few generous donations to the MBIP Virtual Beer Fund in the last couple of weeks! Christopher Glenn and raginrr both sent in generous donations and Tommy Boyd not only sent in a beer donation, he sent along this nice note:
“Enjoy a beer or three at Jimmy's Bar. Jimmy is my godfather, and I used to work there. I live in Chicago now and sell real estate. Cheers! Tommy.”
Well, that can only mean one thing...Let’s go to Jimmy’s and use part of the donation money as part of a prize package for The MBIP Ms. Friday The 13th Winner! And what’s this Ms. Friday The 13th contest about, you may be wondering...well, I’m not too sure myself. I’m kind of making this shit up as we go along, so let’s just go to Jimmy’s and we’ll find out when we get there!
Here we are at Jimmy’s Bar on Farmington Road, an iconic and legendary Peoria bar!
As you can see, there’s a nice crowd in here as always and I see a hole in the bar over there, so let’s go up and see who’s tending bar back there tonight!
It’s Danny and Jimmy, the man himself with a perfectly poured pint of Guinness! Jimmy’s serves up the best pints of Guinness in Peoria and no one does it better than Jimmy himself!
Let’s take a little look around in here. As you can see the wall opposite the bar is loaded with pictures and memorabilia. There’s the massive Guinness mirror and a banner for the Blackhawks—Jimmy’s is the official Chicago Blackhawks bar in Peoria! That harp has a sign for Carey’s Bar, Jimmy’s sister bar in Ireland. And the bottom three photos are a triumvirate of three autographed photos to Jimmy’s from three of my favorite show-business personalities: Captain Kangaroo, Mary Ann from Gilligan’s Island and local comedy legend, Royce Elliott! I knew Royce and recently met his son, Brett when we had lunch at Richwoods High School. Brett’s every bit as nice as his dad and that was a great day!
As I was looking at the photos on the walls, I ran into Jimmy with Kristen, who’s not only one of the more popular and pretty batenders here at Jimmy’s, she’s a talented artist and painter. She hosted a Paint and Pint night here a while back and if you missed that post you can check it out here. Kristen drew a picture of Jimmy and his brothers and father and it’s a great drawing that hangs in the middle of the wall in a place of honor!
There’s a big crowd built up back here at the end of the bar, let’s go see who’s back here. Tonight was a kick-off fundraiser for Sam Joseph who’s running for Peoria Township Supervisor and that’s Sam to the left in the bottom photo. Joining Sam at the end of the bar is, from left: Samantha, Bobby, Isabell, Joe and Jimmy. Joe owns and runs the popular downtown, Adams Street Cafe and I had lunch there back in May of 2013 and I need to stop back there soon for a return visit, stay tuned for that! Bobby is Jimmy’s brother and the Circuit Clerk for the Peoria Courthouse. I’m not sure what Samantha and Isabell do, but I’m sure glad they added a little prettiness to this photo and I thank them for that!
Here’s Bobby with his daughter Annie and her friend, Lakin.
Dan was at the bar and posed for the MBIP Camera with Jimmy at his side!
More smiles for the MBIP Camera from this crew, top row: Lindsey and MIles; bottom row: Annie, Abby and Larkin.
Here’s Joe and Jimmy with Eugene in the middle.
I hadn’t seen Thomas since we had lunch at Harold’s Chicken and here he is with Carmen. And that’s Carmen in the picture below with Sarah, see how things work out here at MBIP?
I went behind the bar to get a picture of the trio of taps back there and while there I got photos of the two bobblehead dolls back there, it’s Jimmy and Joe Girardi! That “Help Wanted” sign has been back there as long as I can remember, which is only about a span of 11 hours, so it might be brand new! There’s Dan with Angela and Matt and Jessica were at the end of the bar. Jessica manages Olio and Vino in the Heights and invited me to stop by in the spring when their patio opens up, so stay tuned for that!
And now...it’s time for...the crowing of the first ever MBIP Ms. Friday the 13th! We all decided that it would be between Carmen and Sarah because they were closest by and Thomas flipped a coin to see who wins...
Drumroll...
Tails...
Carmen wins! She gets 13 dollars in prize money from the donations sent in by Christopher Glenn, raginrr and Tommy Boyd! Congratulations to Carmen and may you enjoy your reign as the official MBIP Ms. Friday the 13th! And thanks again to Christopher, raginrr and Tommy for the generous donations! If you’d like to donate some beer money to MBIP, simply click here for details! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Jimmy’s Bar
2801 W Farmington Road
West Peoria
309-676-4021
Related Posts: Thursday Night @ Agatucci’s and Whitey’s Tip Top Inn, Friendly Valley Tavern and The Trolley.