[smooth percussive music]
- It's written right on the board
at the very top:
Hipster Picnic,
a strong dark Belgian brew.
What could be more hipster than a craft brewery
serving some local artisanal cheeses
holding a celebration
for the end of fall?
♪ ♪
It's a solstice open house for Driftless Brewing,
a small operation looking to expand.
A familiar face walks into the party:
Steve George, treasurer
of the Societies' Sons Motorcycle Club
that put on the food drive.
Here Steve is better known
as the village president of Soldiers Grove.
He doesn't see much difference
between the two elected positions.
- Like both places, you always have
your public, uh, input
where you get your complaints.
[laughs]
- He's retired from his mechanic career,
but Steve still does custom bike work
for Harley riders who want a little more oomph.
He has hopes that Driftless Brewery
can inject some fuel into the village's economy.
- We've been very much supported
by our village here,
our village government.
They gave us a low-cost loan
for our small system,
and they're working with us on a grant
for the bigger system for our expansion.
- We always try doing and looking
as promoting business in our area,
and we'll help you get started
so we can create businesses in a small town,
'cause, well, small towns are losing that.
- Steve is well acquainted with that loss.
[rustic music]
In the late 1970s,
he went through what people in Gays Mills
experienced in the 2000s:
seeing his town of Soldiers Grove
moved out of the flood zone.
- That little town down there had, uh,
three gas stations, a car lot,
a hardware store,
seven bars,
and they were all full on the weekends
with people coming to town at that time.
♪ ♪
Many businesses simply closed down,
but one bar made the slow uphill climb
to higher ground.
- Somebody said he'd build a tavern,
somebody else said they'd build something else,
and the IGA store said he was going,
so we started in.
- Soldiers Grove's citizens started in
by emptying out the old store
and then stocking
the same shelves they'd later be shopping from.
♪ ♪
- Oh, I-I think it's got a future,
if we can get things booming again.
[quiet music]
- The tavern known as the Wonder Bar
has remained a fixture since the move.
The grocery store survived against the odds for decades,
before shutting down not long ago.
♪ ♪
If the village and Driftless Brewing
can secure funding,
including state economic development funds,
the space
the grocery once occupied
will have a new tenant.
The writing's on the wall
for construction to increase production
15-fold
and, no matter how you spell it,
a biergarten.
- Cynthia Olmstead: It's gonna be a destination brewery.
If we have a 70-seat taproom
and a full-scale production brewery,
it's gonna be a pretty exciting addition to this area.
It's gonna help the gas station.
It's gonna help the restaurant.
It's gonna help the B&Bs.
Everyone's pretty excited about the potential here.
- We loan them the money to get started,
and you're taking a chance, is it gonna go or not?
And it is. They're-- they're doing very well.
That's good for the community,
so that was a good investment for the village.