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Meanwhile, Back In Peoria...

A Travel Blog In And Around The River City With Your Host, Marty Wombacher

January 13, 2026

A Guy Walks Into 365 Bars…Again! Bar Number Two: Red Barn • Sunday, January 11, 2026

by MBIP


Once again, the donation bell has rung and both John Freim and Dan London each donated 20 bucks! John sent a silent donation and Dan said that  he loved that I’m doing this in Peoria and that he hopes his donation will get me a beer and one of those fucking amazing tenderloins.

It certainly will and thanks to both Dan and John for their generous and thoughtful donations! I really appreciate it!

If you’d like to chip in and buy me a beer and help out with the food and travel costs, just click here and click on the donate button!

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I thought for the second night we’d hit another classic Peoria bar and then we’ll start mixing it up a little bit.

The Red Barn has been serving up drinks and smiles since 1963 on Glen Avenue near Sheridan Road. I started going there when I was 17 or 18-years old, armed with a trusty fake I.D. back in the ‘70’s!

The Red Barn was the 352nd bar on the original bar crawl back in 2010 and now its worked its way up to the number two spot! Let’s go and check it out!

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Bar Number Two: Red Barn • Sunday, January 11, 2026

Here we are at the second stop of our 365 bar tour, the Red Barn! Love the Budweiser guitar in the window!

Let’s go in and see what’s happening in there on this Sunday evening!

I walked in and saw a familiar face behind the bar, it’s Cherry who’s looking pretty as always and she’s serving us up a bottle of Budweiser! This night is off to a fabulous start already! Cheers!

There’s the lit-up bottles behind the bar and Spuds MacKenzie, always great to see his smiling face parked behind the bar!

The Red Barn is one of the few bars to still have a Nutt House peanut machine.

There’s the Red Barn cooler that houses canned and bottled drinks and there’s the half dozen beers available on tap.

They have live music and stand-up comedy in here and Tuesday is Open Mic Night with Emilele!

Check their facecrack page for updates and schedules.

Mark and Doug were enjoying drinks and conversation at the corner of the bar and they happily posed for the MBIP Camera.

Cherry later told me that Doug is a chef and the grandson of the legendary Big John Robinson, from Big John’s Barbecue! Very cool!

Wooden booths line the wall opposite the bar and stained glass beer chandeliers hang overhead.

Here’s the second pay phone featured on this bar crawl, how long will this streak last? I’m guessing this is the end of it, but time will tell!

There’s the Happy Hour specials that happen in here from 4-7pm, Monday through Friday.

The room in the back is where the live music and stand-up comedy happen in here, let’s go back and take a look.

There’s the stage in the back of the room and the audience area in front of it.

There’s also gaming machines along the wall and a state-of-the-art dartboard over here.

Meanwhile, back at the bar, it looks like it’s time for our Sunday dinner…

Cherry’s serving up a freshly cooked Butch’s cheese pizza! A lovely cheese pizza, just for me!

I added some Butch’s Hot Sauce and it was so good! I love Butch’s Pizza at home, but for some reason, it always tastes the best at the Red Barn!

I asked Cherry how her dad, Bob was doing and she said he’s doing great and showed me this picture of Bob with her son, Harlan! We get to see three generations of the Whitaker’s tonight, what a treat!

There’s a plaque on the bar in honor of the original owner of the Red Barn, “Buffalo” Dan Solomon.

Dan was tending bar when we were here for the first bar crawl back in 2010 and here’s the photo I took of him back then. Cheers to the memory of “Buffalo” Dan!

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Drinks

I had a bottle of Budweiser and a Brooklyn Brewery non-alcohol beer.

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Dinner

Dinner was a cheese Butch’s Pizza and as I said, they always taste the best in the Red Barn!

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Red Barn

621 W. Glen Avenue

Peoria

309-692-3792

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Bar List, Rules, Banner Art & Donation Link.

It was just a barn…

Surprise link, click on it…I dare you!

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