'A hell of a ride'

Doug and Laurie Richards celebrated 33 years of owning and operating the Wheel Inn on June 18 with a get together that brought in customers both old and new, and served up a lot of memories.

The celebration was also intended to mark the hand off of the business to Shea and Melissa Forkan. "We scheduled for the closing date for June 17. That's the date we picked because it was going to be our 33rd opening anniversary."

However, the closing date was pushed back as the Forkans work through the last of a series of requirements from the state. Laurie said none of them expected the state would have so many bureaucratic hoops, some of them redundant, to jump through.

"We're just here until we find out it's not ours anymore," Laurie said with a laugh.

The Richards bought the tavern in 1989 from Chrissy Gehring (now Holm).Laurie said it was her "bright idea." "Doug was logging and working away a lot. I said, 'why don't we buy the Wheel Inn?' We knew absolutely nothing about the bar. I knew about the food because I worked at Lambkins, so we started the process of buying it and opened at 6 o'clock on June 17, 1989."

They hadn't actually planned on opening that day, but had everything ready to go. So, when Sonny and Darlene Templeton called to ask if they were serving food yet, they figured it was as good a time as any, despite having a rather sparse till.

"It was funny when we opened, because we weren't planning on it, I had my tips from Lambkins restaurant. That's what we started with that day."

She said the Templeton's and Susan and Jerry Biresch were their first customers, and the Templeton's were on hand for the anniversary celebration. "I felt pretty honored," Laurie said. "It was so nice the support of the people who came to it."

Laurie said not everyone had faith at the beginning they'd last in the business.

"I had someone come in probably a month after we opened who said 'people are taking bets on how long you're going to make it'. I was hurt," she said. Apparently some folks had a board going and the person who told her about it had his money on just one year. "I was like 'hold my beer and watch this. I want to know the person who guessed 33 years , because they're the winners."

The business has seen its share of ups and downs over the years. Doug said they were broken into 14 times in their first year or so, and the first band to play for them, an outfit called Breakin' Fences, had a memorable set. Doug said they set up in the corner of the bar where the pool table usually is now. "The singer was standing there with his guitar and his mike stand when someone opened the door," Doug said. "The microphone caught him and fattened both his lips."

Laurie said one of her most notable memories involved the origin of the "Ranch Queen," a tale she said was too sordid to share in the paper.

More recently, a customer's need to use the facilities during a power outage on the Fourth of July in 2016, leading to substantially clogged toilet, stands out for both Doug and Laurie as one of their more unpleasant memories.

But through it all, Doug said their best memories center around all the people they've met along the way.

"We met some great friends, people we probably would have never met if it wasn't here," Laurie said.

The decision to sell the business wasn't an easy one. They'd never had it for sale and most of the Richards four kids grew up with the business as a fixture in their lives because they were so young when they took it over. "Shanda was one, Brenna was four Bryce was five, Dustin was eight . Brenna has worked every Saturday since she was 18, with very few off," Laurie said.

In the end, the family supported the sale. "They were all for us moving to the next chapter," Laurie said.

Until the sale is final, the Richards remain the longest-term owners of a single business on Lincoln's Main Street, and they are just the fourth owners of the business, which stands as the oldest tavern in town, dating to 1947, when Don Didrikson and Ralph Hahn built it and opened as the Wagon Wheel Inn.

Hahn sold his share to Keith Didriksen. and in n1950 the Didriksen's sold it to Lou Butts and Stanley Straines, who later sold it to Chrissy Gehring and Jimmy Lambkin. Laurie said it was briefly run by Dan Campbell in 1988, but he wasn't able to buy it because he wasn't able to hold a liquor license.

"It's been probably...nothing that we thought it was going to be," Laurie said. "We didn't realize all the friends we would make along the way," Laurie said, glancing up. "A lot of them have their names on the ceiling.

"It's been a hell of a ride. That's about all I can say," said Doug. "It had it's ups and downs, but it's been a good ride."

"You were a bull rider," Laurie pointed out. "You've been bucked off a few times."

"I definitely don't want a re-ride this time," he shot back.