We Walk into a Bar the Night before Thanksgiving

Yukon’s Tavern and Grill, Fresno, California

Bars the night before Thanksgiving are a thing.

When I worked in the hospitality industry, I heard bartenders speak with dread about college students coming home with cheesy fake IDs and meeting friends at hometown bars for shots and energy drink cocktails. The night before Thanksgiving is also when people head to bars a s a place of retreat when they've already had a few hours with their families and need some time away to prepare themselves for the long day to come. .

Some bars just take the opportunity for a party. While searching for our bar of the week, Mindy found that Yukon’s Tavern & Grill in Fresno was having a Pre Thanksgiving Bash at 9:00 pm, with a DJ and cornhole. (May I again express my displeasure with the term “Cornhole?” “Bean bag game” works just fine, thank you very much.) We arrived before the DJ, because we wanted to talk to people, but the beanbag game was already set up outside.

The bartender said they didn’t have hard cider (which seemed like the Thanksgiving thing to us), so Mindy ordered a cranberry and vodka and I asked for a rum and Coke. When the bartender started writing the night’s specials on a chalkboard, we saw something better yet: 50-cent chicken wings.

While we waited for our wings, we started talking to John, who was sitting next to me at the bar. He was fruitlessly cheering on his Los Angeles Lakers, who were losing to the Sacramento Kings. He said he’d never been much of a basketball fan until Kobe and Shaq came to the Lakers. His dad got excited about the team, and he did as well.

He was willing to answer our two questions: “What makes for a good bar?” and “What would make for a good church?”

John was excited to answer the first question. “I ask myself that question a lot. I’ve wanted to have my own bar since I was ten years old.There aren’t many kids who want to run a bar at ten! This may sound strange, but a good bar should have a family type of environment. No matter what, everyone should always be welcome. Whether it’s the first time they come or the hundredth. Like here.”  John knows the owners of Yukon's and has been impressed with the friendliness of the bar.

As for what makes for a good church, John said he grew up in the Roman Catholic Church which had a “quiet, disciplined environment.” He said there were good things about those rules and somberness, but when he was older, he went to the Salvation Army services and really enjoyed it. He said good music and testimonies makes for a good church.

Alyssa the bartender agreed to take a moment for our questions, too. She said a good bar needed, “Good marketing and promotionals.”

Mindy acknowledged it was the Facebook information that had brought us there, and Alyssa said about the owner, “He’s really popular with people; people come to see him. He’s a good person.” She said bartenders were important, too. I’m a social butterfly. People follow me from place to place. This isn’t my part of town, but I’ve made friends in this community.” She said it was important to have “good vibes” and a “good aura” in the bar. She noted, “If you’re going to get intoxicated, you want to be around people you’re comfortable with.”

As for what makes for a good church, she said that there “good vibes” are important there as well. “My whole life, I’ve wanted to be places that are welcoming and friendly. I don’t want negative energy. I want to be comfortable. My biggest thing about church is I wasn’t comfortable in the Roman Catholic Church. I couldn’t ask questions. When I was older a friend invited me to the Presbyterian Church downtown. They were more casual.” She liked that.

On the way out, we took some tosses at the bean bags. John was smoking nearby, and he and a couple guys leaving the bar cheered us on. I got one beanbag in, and I told one of the men who had just gotten in his truck. He handed me a Tootsie Pop as a prize.

It’s one of the lesser things in my life that I’m thankful for, but it’s still a thing.