A Timmins bar is marking nine decades of serving up suds by giving back to the community.
A weeklong celebration is planned to celebrate the The Victory Tavern's 90th anniversary.
It runs Aug. 24 to 29 and there will be entertainment from 8 p.m. to midnight every night. Some of the performers they have lined up include Skinny, Paul Sebalj, Rose Lariviere, and Wayne Covey.
Tickets for Monday to Thursday are $5 each, and the Friday show is already sold out. All the money is going to the Croatian Hall in Schumacher.
"They’re in need and we don’t need any more places closing down and the people running it are great people,” said Randy Gattesco, The Victory Tavern owner.
Located on Cedar Street South, it began as the Mount Royal Hotel in 1930 and later became The Victory House as a tribute to the Allied victory in the Second World War. It took on its current name in 1960.
Gattesco bought it from the Curiks, the longtime owners, in 1999.
For him, the busiest years were when he first took over until the mid 2000s.
“We had lineups here on Friday and Saturday nights," he recalled.
Every weekend, and sometimes through the week, there was live music.
Through the years he's been in charge, he estimates there's been 1,300 different bands.
"I’ve met so many great people,” he said.
The number of people going out started dropping around 2005, he said.
“As technology progressed, especially cell phones, less and less people went out,” said Gattesco.
While Gattesco has painted, done repairs and replaced equipment — the bones of the Victory Tavern are the same as the 1960s.
That's when he said the benches were put in, and the tables and chairs are from the same era.
The layout harkens back to the early days, as well.
The south side of the bar was for couples, and the other side was for men. Women couldn't go on the men's side.
