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Ding, ding, ding! The donation bell has rung not once, but twice this week!

Sean “TooTall” Smith who’s done lots of time behind the bars doing bartender duty here in and around Peoria sent in a generous donation of twenty dollars with this message: “Marty you’re keeping me on my toes with some of these wild places, a lot I have visited in my bartending career. We are almost halfway there!”

Linda Putnam sent in a generous donation of twenty-five dollars with this message: “Thanks for the blog, Marty! I love seeing all of the bars in my old stomping grounds!”

Thanks to Sean and Linda for the generous donations!

If you’d like to send a donation in to help with the cost of beer, food and gas, just click here and scroll down to the donate button!

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Okay, we’re off on another road trip with my friend, Jim, the man formerly known as Vern Damico who now is known as, “Karl.”

Where are we off to this evening? You’ll find out when we get there, well, actually it’s going to say it on the next line. Just keep scrolling and let’s just move along here!

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Bar Number 142: Opie’s 116, Tuesday, June 9, 2026

There he is, the man himself behind the wheel, the man formerly known as Vern Damico who is now known as Karl. Always great to see him and he’s steering us to tonight’s destination. I always appreciate his expert driving skills!

We now interrupt this broadcast to bring you a message from the other Karl: “I sure hope you all order some of them French fried potaters tonight.”

This concludes this message from the other Karl, we now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast, already in progress.

Okay, we’ve arrived at tonight’s destination, Opie’s 116 Bar & Grill in Roanoke. This is the first trip to Roanoke we’ve taken on the tour so far, let’s go in and see what’s happening in here tonight!

Wow, check out the triangular room and bar in here!

This is the most unique bar of the tour so far! Let’s grab a seat and get settled in and have the first drink of the evening!

Here’s Tabby, the friendly and pretty bartender on duty serving me up an ice-cold can of Bud Light. We’re off to a fantastic start in here already!

There’s Karl at the bar and he’s wearing his Pub Fifty-Two shirt that we got on the 52nd stop of this tour!

Tabby took a shot of the half a dozen beers on tap behind the bar, great photo, Tabby!

Here’s a shot from the other end of this unique, triangular bar!

There’s another room over here with dining tables and a discreet gaming area if you’re in the mood to gamble.

There’s yet another room in the back here with tables and a pinball machine, which pleased Karl, as he’s a pinball wizard.

There’s also a pool table, dart boards and a shuffleboard table in the back of the room.

As I was taking pictures, I met the owner of the bar, Opie!

He told me that this bar is 75 years old and he took over the ownership in 2023. He said business has been great and things are going wonderful in here! Great to meet him and nice that he’s keeping this historic Roanoke bar in business!

Meanwhile, back at the bar, it’s Taco Tuesday…

So of course we ordered up a couple of taco dinners and they were tasty and delicious tacos!

We now interrupt this broadcast with yet another word from the other Karl: “I sure wish you all would’ve ordered some of them French fried potaters. Mmmm hmmm.”

We now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast, already in progress.