This entire week has been the 40th anniversary celebration at Jimmy’s Bar.
There’s been all kinds of fun events happening and I thought I’d start an MBIP tradition for Jimmy’s anniversary week and have a special anniversary lunch the week of Jimmy’s anniversary celebrations.
We’ve got special guest stars and I’m bringing cake! Let’s make like Kool & The Gang and go celebrate!
Here we are at Jimmy’s Bar, an iconic West Peoria bar that’s been standing tall on this corner for 40 years. I was 24-years-old when it opened and when I first started coming here. Yikes!
I love the skeleton bicycle rider and there’s some of the outside signage at Jimmy’s Bar.
Here we are inside of Jimmy’s and I see a familiar face behind the bar…
it’s the man himself, Jimmy Spears!
He’s giving me the 4-0 sign with his hands.
Jimmy’s the friendliest bar owner in Peoria and it’s always a wonderful pleasure to see him!
There’s Artie at the bar and Samantha Spears came in with her dad, Bobby Spears. This is shaping up to be quite a party.
And speaking of party…
Here’s our festive luncheon party, from left: Michelle, PJ and John.
Always great to see them and Michelle is sporting a Friendly Valley Tavern cap, very cool!
Now it’s time for me to take some pictures because that’s what I do!
There’s the classic Jimmy’s clock, the beer bottle collection and the gaming machines up front.
There’s so much interesting stuff on the walls in here that you could spend weeks absorbing all of it.
The inside of Jimmy’s is a 40 year collage of art and photos that is a real unique West Peoria experience.
There’s the 40th anniversary sign next to the kitchen.
And inside of the kitchen cooking our lunch is Pat Spears, all decked out in a special anniversary outfit! Looking nice, Pat!
There’s an expansive beer garden in the back of Jimmy’s, tables to the left of it and a beer patio that overlooks Farmington Road.
Meanwhile, back inside of Jimmy’s…
Lunch is served up by Pat!
John got the fish and chips, Michelle and PJ got the quesadilla with chips and salsa and I got the Mr. Spears basket which is a corn dog and potato chips.
And we all got a cookie with our lunch! Spectacular!
After lunch, Brandt stopped by our table and said hi. Brandt and his family were my parents neighbors for years and I haven’t seen him since he was a kid and it was so fun to see him again!
If you need landscaping, lawn service or snow removal, he’s the guy to get a hold of at Barr Landscaping & Lawn Service Inc.
It was so nice to see him after all of these years!
Being an anniversary lunch, I had to bring cake, but I only thought of this at the last moment and quickly got a mini cake at Schnuck’s.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, this led Bobby to have the quote of the day: “Everybody else gets a Trefzger’s cake and we get this crap from Schnuck’s.”
Ha ha ha! Okay, next year I’m bringing a giant Trefzger’s cake and Bobby has to eat the whole thing! It’ll be sweet!
Here’s a couple of group Spears photos and Jimmy re-created throwing me out like he did years ago when I came here for the 365 bars blog.
And a parting shot with Michelle and I!
This was such a fun afternoon and thanks to everyone who showed up! We’ll do this next year on the 41st anniversary, so stay tuned and happy 40th anniversary to Jimmy’s Bar!
——
2801 W. Farmington Road
West Peoria
309-676-4021
——
Related Posts: Lunch At Frist Bite @: Ardor Breads & Provisions, Ming Shee and Haddad’s.