PEORIA MAGAZINE June 2022

D I S H A N D D R I N K

TRIVOLI GETS ITS NIGHTLIFE BACK The Brown Jug rises again

BY PHIL LUCIANO PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

C ome nightfall, Trivoli won’t be rolling up the sidewalks. For one, there are no sidewalks. For another, the neon lights are back on at The Brown Jug. For more than a half-century, the roadhouse has served as a community connecting point in Trivoli, home to just a few businesses, none with evening

hours. After 20 years of ownershipof the bar and grill, Monica Childers wanted to retire. She found an enthusiastic trio who not only wanted to buy the place but to spruce things up. “The townspeople rely on it,” Childers said. “It’s a place they can go and gather.” One of the new owners, Bob Bullock, knows what the saloonmeans to Trivoli.

“We want to fix it up a bit and give it back to the community,” he said. The same philosophy worked well at another venerable pub, Mike’s Tavern, reopened by Bullock andMarkDonahue two years ago in West Peoria. The pair – along with Donahue’s nephew, Connor Nauth — recently purchased the Brown Jug with a similar restoration plan: Add

28 JUNE 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE