ELLSWORTH — A long-time dream has come true for BobbieJo Olson and her husband Wade, purchasing a bar at 252 N. Broadway St. that they named BW’s Tavern, honoring each of their names.

BobbieJo is a Plum City graduate who also has a home care agency in Ellsworth. The bar was formerly known as Niki’s Eastender and then Shotguns, and Olson has bartended there over the years. After Niki’s Eastender was sold so the owner could become a stay-at-home mom and Shotguns later closed its doors, Olson saw the opportunity to bring life back to the building where she had so many memories.

“I used to work for this bar when Niki had it. She was my best friend. The joke was always I was brownie, she was blondie,” Olson said. “That was my opportunity to get in here. I’ve always wanted this bar.”

It took a long process, getting new flooring, gutting the bar from front to back and remodeling, but BW’s opened its doors St. Patrick’s Day weekend to a packed house.

“This one just always felt home,” Olson said. “We got in here and pretty much gutted it, and it was gross…I love this bar. It was a lot of work, a lot of work, and it’s exactly how I envisioned it for years.”

The opening weekend was as wild as it gets, going from people from front to back to a massive snowstorm to round things out.

“We were swamped every day, which I was amazed,” Olson said. “We actually ran just about out of beer opening night.”

Olson said she messaged the distributor when the beer supply was running low, and he said that he has never seen that before on an opening night.

“Houston, we have a problem. It’s 11:30 and I’m almost out of beer,” Olson said. “It was packed from the front and the whole back of the bar.”

The bar has a whiskey theme to honor BobbieJo’s biological father, who is from Mississippi. BW’s will feature famous whiskey loaded Bloody Marys on Saturdays and Sundays that include a brat, chicken wings, hush puppies, cheese curds and beef sticks. The whiskey Bloody Mary recipe is one BobbyJo and Wade worked together to perfect.

There will also be loaded tequila sunrises and fuzzy navals that include raspberry cheesecake and apple pie egg rolls, cheese curds and Hanisch Bakery donuts.

There will be a specials-based food menu. Wednesdays are Ladies Night with margaritas, tacos, nachos and taco salads. Thursdays are barbeque day with pork sandwiches, another nod to the southern ties. There will also be appetizers, pizza and wings.

“Different appetizers, I will be doing egg rolls, but not actual egg rolls. They will be like Philly steak, Southwestern, a Reuben one,” Olson said.

BW’s plans to work with the community for events like meat raffles and use local goods including Udder Hills Meat and Ellsworth Cheese Curds. Some of the planned entertainment includes karaoke, BINGO and an April team puzzle competition.

With the incoming East End Reconstruction work, BW’s Tavern is eager to be a core piece to the new-look district.