After a brief holiday hiatus MBIP is back! And what better day to come back than on a Friday and have a fun MBIPTGIF happy hour post.
This week we’re celebrating happy hour at a legendary Peoria pub, The Basket Case Pub! They’ve been standing tall on Main Street for decades and they have the distinction of being Peoria’s first karaoke bar!
And last March they added to their legendary status when comedic actor Will Ferrell decided to make a surprise visit to the pub out of the blue! Keep on scrolling for more about that and let’s go and enjoy a Friday Happy Hour at the Basket Case Pub!
Here we are at one of Peoria’s legendary pubs, The Basket Case Pub!
The sign faces Main Street, but you have to walk down this alley and follow the vintage Old Style beer signs to the door.
Here we are, let’s go in!
The focal point and anchor of the pub is this giant, horseshoe square bar that greets you as soon as you step inside.
Let’s go see who that is standing inside of the bar over there…
This is Jackie, the cute and friendly bartender on duty today! I had a nice chat with her and she told me she’s a regular reader of MBIP and I always love to hear that!
Okay, let’s get some photos of the Basket Case Pub for this Friday Happy Hour post!
As I noted earlier, the bar is the centerpiece of the front room
It’s a gigantic polished wooden bar with classic leather bumpers running around it. The lights strung over it give it a dive bar feel and the grass top adds a nice tiki bar effect. Very cool!
There’s tables opposite the bar with a state-of-the-art dartboard behind them.
Gaming machines line the back wall for all of you gamblers out there!
Check out this wall of caricature art! I took more close-ups than this, but I had to take them without a flash and the only two that turned out were Elvis and The Blues Brothers.
I was going to ask Jackie who the artist who drew them is, but I forgot. But in The Blues Brothers I think it says, “Cindy.” And it’s dated from 1999! How fitting that Prince is up on the wall!
There’s some specials on the board and if you’re hungry they’ve got Butch’s Premium Pizza, always a tasty treat!
You can also purchase a t-shirt that celebrates Peoria’s First Karaoke Bar!
They have a nice jukebox in here and the Christmas tree is still up. I think it may stay up all year round if memory serves me correct.
Here’s a photo turned into a poster of when Will Ferrell dropped in here last year in March. He’s filming a documentary and somehow the producer chose The Basket Case as a stop on this tour for the film.
Jackie was here when it happened and said it was unbelievable. She’s pictured in the last photo from this group photo with Will in The Basket Case.
He stayed for over an hour and participated in karaoke singing, “She’s A Lady” solo and “I Got You Babe” with two other people in the bar.
You can read more about this in this PJ Star article and there’s also a photo gallery with more pictures from that memorable evening.
Of course, every hour in here is Happy Hour, but they do have a daily special of all day buckets with five cans of domestic beer for eleven bucks!
Happy Hour happens Monday through Friday from 6pm to 7pm, with domestic cans available for just a buck apiece!
Saturday and Sunday there’s a two hour Happy Hour from 5pm to 7pm in here at the Basket Case with cans of domestic beer going for just two bucks apiece!
Some of the domestic beers available include: Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light, Busch, Busch Light, Miller Light, PBR and of course, Old Style.
With bargains like that, you can’t afford not to drink in here!
“What Happens In The Basket Is Talked About All Week!” Ha ha ha!
Thanks to Jackie for the friendly conversation and hospitality.
Stop in and enjoy Happy Hour at The Basket Case Pub. You never know, maybe Will Ferrell will stop in while you’re there!
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610 W. Main Street
Peoria
309-676-2273
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Related Posts: MBIPTGIF Happy Hour @: W.E. Sullivan’s Irish Pub & Fare, Friendly Valley Tavern and Mike’s Tavern.
Like everyone else at this time of the year, I’m on a diet. About six weeks ago, I noticed my pants were starting to feel a wee bit tight as I tried to buckle them shut.
I hadn’t weighed myself in quite a while and I didn’t have a scale. So I went and got one, dutifully hopped on and was horrified by what I saw,
I weighed 191 pounds! My normal weight should be between 160 and 165 pounds! How the hell did this happen?
Well, I knew the holidays were coming up, so I knew I couldn’t start any kind of hardcore diet till after the new year, but I did start cutting back. It’s tough trying to cut back and do the blog because I’m constantly going out to eat and eating corn dogs once a week. But I did my best.
This week I really started a conscious diet and I thought I’d weigh myself every Friday and post the results up here until I get to my goal.
Once I hit my goal of 160 pounds, my plan is to reward myself with a chicken wing eating and beer drinking vacation to Buffalo, New York!
So today I nervously got on the scale and was pleased because I now weigh 184 pounds! I’ve dropped seven pounds since that frightening 191 pound weigh-in six week’s ago.
Tune in next Friday to see if I can keep on dropping these pounds. Okay, I’m going to go have a salad now.
Have fun!