Remember the good old days? Like the times you could go out on a Friday night, sleep all day Saturday, then do it all again Saturday night? Where you could go to the bars with your friends without a care in the world?

For me, the sweet spot was my mid-20s. My friends and I had a lot of good times going out.  I was never one to go out and get sloshed, but my friends and I had bars that we frequented.  Bars that we'd go to, and the bartenders knew us, and we'd have a couple of beers, sing along to the jukebox or the band that was playing, and just have a good old time without a worry in the world.

The pandemic and (sadly) age and responsibilities all seem to have taken the fun out of letting my hair down on a Saturday night. We try to sneak out now and then and grab a brew but early bedtimes seem way more important now than they did before I had a very small child.

There's a quote from The Office, that often resonates with me.  It's when Andy sits down and says:

I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days, before you've actually left them.

And that quote has always kind of stuck with me.  I wouldn't trade the current place I'm at in my life for anything, but I also wouldn't trade those times with my friends for anything either.

On nights we can get a sitter, we still meet up with friends for dinner at these bars, but man things look a little different these days. There are also some bars we used to frequent when I was in college that aren't around anymore.  Remember Hammerheads?  Those 80's nights were a blast!

Others are remembering their favorite bar memories. Here are some of my favorite quotes when we asked to share bar memories on Facebook.

Join me on a trip down memory lane

Remember the days before the pandemic (and some before even smartphones were a thing) and enjoy some spirits of Evansville's past, bars we all miss (some more than others haha)!

What bars did we miss? Let us know!

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There's just something about that hometown bar.

Check out this gem from Harpoles! I'm pretty sure this is on VHS...

I don't know about you, but my friends and I had certain bars that were our spots.  But you know the bar you could walk into and the bartender was a friend, and we'd see familiar faces. My mid-20s weren't that long ago, so many of the bars we frequented are still around.  On any Saturday night, you'd typically find us at places like:

The Stockwell Inn

Sportsmans

The Sportsden