Stillwater Gazette
By Taylor Kiel
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, before heading off to an agriculture conference, came to downtown Stillwater on Monday, Aug. 18 for a brief tour of some locally owned businesses on Main Street.
The tour started with Klobuchar greeting some local figures, including Mayor Ted Kozlowski, Stillwater Police Chief Brian Mueller, and a few others at the Lora Hotel and Event Center.
Kozlowski explained that the location was that of Joseph Wolf Brewery, “pretty much the first brewery in Minnesota,” he stated.
The group then went into the back rooms of the hotel. Built into the rock of the valley toward the southern end of Main Street, the back rooms are caves where the brewery took advantage of nature’s cooling system.
“We are not up to code, so no one should ever be back here,” said Kadie Frey, general manager of the Lora Hotel and Event Center.
Frey explained the hotel, after being home to the brewery, was a soda shop, then a restaurant, before becoming the hotel it is today.
The tour went back outside and walked along Main Street to Howard’s Bar, which is closed on Mondays, so the tour group had the bar to themselves.
Klobuchar and the others in the tour group met the namesake of the bar, Mr. Howard, a friendly dog who greeted each member of the group.
Klobuchar asked what the establishment was before it was Howard’s.
Adam Smith, co-owner and chef, explained, “It’s probably been here since the mid-1800s. There’s been maybe four or five food and beverage establishments. Before us it was Whitey’s, before that it was John’s, Sonny’s, Barney’s, so it has a long-standing history.”
The Smiths ran the bar as Whitey’s for a year before starting to implement changes to make the place their own. Smith said the first year largely consisted of learning what not to change based on the feedback of customers and staff.
Next, the tour led the Senator to Smith + Trade Mercantile.
There, the store was open to business, and numerous people approached to tell Klobuchar how much they appreciate her work. Several people stopped the Senator to shake her hand and get a selfie with her.
Klobuchar also browsed the goods offered in the store, and ended up purchasing a wallet made by Biyaya Bags of Savage, Minn. The bags and wallets were born from a passion for sustainable fashion, handwoven from strips of packaging. Klobuchar said the purchase was for her daughter.
She, along with several other members of the tour group, signed a “get well” card for Paul Kaufer, the husband of Smith + Trade Mercantile’s founder Kelli Kaufer. Paul suffered a heart attack that landed him in the hospital on a road to recovery.
Finally, the tour ended at the Stillwater Lift Bridge, where the Senator got to see the fruits of the federal process in which she played a role to turn the Lift Bridge into a pedestrian bridge and build the St. Croix Crossing Bridge (Highway 36). The entrance to the Lift Bridge is now the Chestnut Pedestrian Plaza, which, very quickly after its completion, became home to many downtown Stillwater events.