TACOMA — It started with one pub on Portland’s Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, Barley Mill Pub, opening in the summer of 1983.
At that time, as the company describes on its website, Grateful Dead music “filled the air and the first pint was poured.”
Forty years later, McMenamins is celebrating its Northwest collection of 56 restaurants/pubs, entertainment complexes and hotels, including the Elks Temple in Tacoma. The celebration is planned throughout the summer with anniversary-themed deals and the introduction of a new podcast.
McMenamins marketing director Renee Rank Ignacio said the company recently celebrated Barley Mill’s 40th anniversary.
“It put on quite the party and quite the live music,” she said, “and had it all out on the street with an outdoor grill and everything.”
At all of its Washington and Oregon sites, expect 40 percent off draft McMenamins beers on Aug. 14.
There will be a release of a new 1983 Lager, to be on tap at all locations, among other events.
There also is a special scavenger hunt through Sept. 30 that anyone can participate in, not just McMenamins Passport holders, at various locations, with prizes.
“The idea is to learn more history and learn more about who we are,” Rank Ignacio said.
Many properties run by McMenamins have extensive history, driven by the family’s desire to save old buildings from the ravages of time and possibly the wrecking ball. The company said it has restored more than 20 historically significant buildings, including former schools and churches and Edgefield, a former county poor farm in Oregon.
The company’s historic preservation drive inspired a local campaign led by late TNT business columnist Dan Voelpel to lobby McMenamins to eventually come to Tacoma.
The Tacoma Elks Temple saw its grand reopening under the McMenamins banner in April 2019.
As part of its 40-year anniversary, McMenamins is launching a new podcast, called “The Red Shed Tapes,” a nod to the Little Red Shed pub at its Edgefield property in Troutdale, Ore.
The podcast will be hosted by Shannon McMenamin, daughter of Mike McMenamin, who started the business with brother, Brian. According to the company, McMenamins now has 3,164 employees working alongside the family.
“We’ve been wanting to do a podcast for many, many years,” Rank Ignacio said, and the company has been collecting video and recording property-development recollections in the process. “We have so many stories. There’s so many things behind what we do.”
The podcast will feature Mike and Brian in its pilot episode, with a release date to be determined. In the meantime, Rank Ignacio recommended people revisit McMenamins sites, including the Elks Temple, to see what has changed.
“That’s just such an amazing place,” she said of the Tacoma venue, noting that new elements will continue to appear there and at other sites.
“Whether that’s adding more live music, or if it’s adding more different tastings and events that are going on there, there’s just a constant evolution,” Rank Ignacio said.
For more information on McMenamins anniversary events, go to mcmenamins.com/40th-anniversary.
