MEETEETSE — When Joe and Alice Kordonowy bought the Elkhorn Bar & Grill in 1994, Joe had to knock a few heads to prove he was just as tough as the cowboys and oil field workers who spent more time in the smoke-filled bar than their own homes.
Joe has since died, but his wife carries the memory of those rough-and-tumble days when the Kordonowys had to prove themselves to the blue-collar regulars at the Elkhorn.
“We were there for two years before anybody would speak to us as friends, and that was because they finally realized we were just down-to-earth oil field trash,” Alice told Cowboy State Daily.
Kordonowy said that when they first bought the bar, there were arguments over games of pool that often were settled by fistfights.
No big deal. The fights rarely drew anything more than a glance from the others in the bar.
There aren’t many of those anymore as the Elkhorn has tamed some over the years.
“It calmed down real quick after they realized that this is a family place,” she said. “Joe told them to knock it off.”
She said that customers would bet over pool games and start arguing. When they started knocking over chairs, Joe would toss them out of his bar.
For the especially unruly ones, Joe would get help.
With one other man, Joe would wrangle the offending parties out the door by grabbing an arm each.
“Joe wasn't gonna put up with it,” Alice said. “They knew I wouldn't, either.”
The couple opened at 8 in the morning to accommodate night shifts just getting off work so they had a mix of men coming and going at all hours.
The Kordonowy’s would then work until 2 in the morning to cater to the late-night crowd.
Get Out Of The Wind
The Kordonowy’s ended up in Meeteetse because their daughter, Beth, lived there with her family, and they had come to visit.
“We were in Glenrock, and we hated the wind,” Alice said. “We liked Meeteetse and bought the Elkhorn just to get out of the wind and close to family.”
In the first few years, Joe and Alice worked six days a week, taking only one day off so that the American Legion could do its fundraising on Sundays as the only location selling liquor for the day.
The couple lived in the basement of the bar and had to clean up the place before opening. They also were hit with violations left over from previous owners soon after buying the Elkhorn.
“I didn't think we were gonna make it there for a while,” Alice said.
Their granddaughter, Kelsey Scolari, said that she was just a young thing in elementary school when her grandparents bought the saloon.
Her first memories are of crawling up on things to wipe down the walls. She would then drink free Shirley Temples afterwards.
“They were very strict,” Scolari said. “There used to be carpet and there was a strict line that kids were not allowed to cross.”
In the last five years of owning the Elkhorn, Kordonowy started opening at 10 a.m. on Sundays.
She would go to church, then arrive at the Elkhorn to serve pie and ice cream to everyone else also getting out of services.
“They wouldn't have dreamt of coming in the Elkhorn before (after church), but they started to come in to buy an ice cream before the bar opened,” Kordonowy said. “It was fun.”
5 Gallon Buckets Of Bull Fries
The couple began hosting annual community dinners after a conversation at a branding turned into buckets of bull fries — aka Rocky Mountain oysters — being delivered to the Elkhorn.
“Joe was talking to one of the ranchers about having some bull fries and asked him to save a few for him,” Kordonowy said. “Other people heard and said that they would save a bunch of them if he would have a fry.”
The ranchers brought 5-gallon buckets of bull fries to the Elkhorn after castrating their cattle. Kordonowy would then spend a week preparing them for a big free community dinner.
She would have help from the owner of the café next door and others in this tedious work. She said they were disgusting to clean, but very good eating.
“We'd have the bull fries and fried chicken,” Kordonowy said. “The whole community that came would bring covered dishes.”
Joe and Alice were also both supporters of 4-H and Future Farmers of America, and some of their grandkids raised pigs, which led to another community dinner each year. The Kordonowys would buy their grandkids’ pigs and then a lamb at the fair.
“We would close the bar for one Sunday and have a community barbecue,” Kordonowy said. “Marathon Oil would loan us a huge cooker they had.”
It was another get-together where everyone pitched in with additional food and helped cook the meat, making fun memories.
A New Generation
Kordonowy said that the Elkhorn was originally built in 1947, the same year she was born. When she and Joe bought it, the town of Meeteetse was a bustling little town.
“The Mercantile was still going full-time as a general store and even had a meat counter,” Kordonowy said. “They had everything from Levi's to getting well cards, to diapers, groceries, and everything.”
She said that when the Mercantile shut down, it really killed the town.
“The old ranchers and oil field guys are long gone now,” Kordonowy said. “We made friends from everywhere in the United States, and lots of people still send cards to me.”
Scolari said that when her grandparents sold the Elkhorn in 2015, it was a mixture of relief and heartbreak since they were still working long hours.]
But she had grown up in the saloon. After only four years after selling the bar, Joe died from pancreatic cancer.
Over the next decade, the new owners updated the bar and turned it into a nonsmoking bar and restaurant.
Scolari continued to live in Meeteetse and bartend at the Elkhorn. When an opportunity came to buy it back, Scolari’s husband encouraged her to do so.
“It makes my heart sing,” Kordonowy said. “We were proud of the Elkhorn and I'm so proud of them. They're just doing great.”
Scolari has many of the same type of customers from the ranches, oil fields and tourists that her grandparents also catered to.
“We're like the local post office because people get their packages shipped here,” Scolori said. “We have to keep in the know about all the town activities since people call us and ask about what is going on.”
Scolari said it is hard work, but worth it as she works to build her own future by preserving her grandparent’s legacy at the Elkhorn Bar & Grill in Meeteetse, a town of just over 300.
Contact Jackie Dorothy at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
